Yemen is threatening to fracture even further, exposing a growing rift between Middle East powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The latest friction is among members of the Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen’s south that for years has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels based in the north.
Here’s a look at the forces involved as Saudi Arabia pursues dialogue among all the players in the south of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation:
Anti-Houthi coalition
A collection of forces led by neighboring Saudi Arabia have assembled to counter the Iran-backed Houthis over the past decade in Yemen’s civil war. Their professed goal has long been to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The civil war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. A Saudi-Emirati–led coalition backed by the United States intervened in 2015, but by 2022 the conflict had reached a stalemate, with the Houthis controlling the country’s most populous areas, including Sanaa, while a loose regional coalition supported the internationally recognized government in the south.
Recent developments have been a sharp reminder that the coalition’s members are a loose grouping with very different motivations. The latest friction arose in December when one member of the coalition moved to take parts of southern Yemen as part of its separatist aspirations, breaking an uneasy ceasefire among coalition members.
Southern Transitional Council
The separatist Southern Transition Council is the most powerful group in southern Yemen and one of a number of UAE-supported groups that control most of that region, including crucial port cities and islands. The STC wants South Yemen to be an independent nation.
Last month, the STC seized an oil-rich area as it advanced in two governorates, Hadramout and Mahra, that were once held by Saudi-backed forces. Tensions soared when a shipment of arms from the UAE for the STC arrived in the Yemeni port city of Mukalla. Saudi Arabia swiftly targeted Mukalla with airstrikes and created regional alarm around Saudi-UAE relations. Those airstrikes, and pressure from a Saudi-backed armed group, pushed the STC back.
Meanwhile, the anti-Houthi coalition told the UAE to withdraw its forces from Yemen, and over the weekend it said it had.
The STC is being led by Aidarous al-Zubaidi who had reportedly declined Wednesday to attend de-escalation talks in Riyadh and instead sent a delegation to take part. The Presidential Leadership Council expelled al-Zubaidi and charged him with treason.
The STC maintained that al-Zubaidi remained in Aden, the interim capital, to carry out his duties. However, the Saudi military said in a statement Thursday that al-Zubaidi fled Yemen by boat to Somalia, where he was later flown out by the UAE to Abu Dhabi.
The southern group also said Wednesday it had lost contact with its delegates in Riyadh for talks. On Thursday, an STC member and head of the negotiation and reconciliation committee said he had met the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, calling the meeting “fruitful.”
Hadramout Tribes Confederacy
The Saudi-backed Hadramout Tribes Confederacy seized the PetroMasila oil facility in November as it sought a bigger share of oil revenues and the improvement of services for Hadramout residents. The STC apparently used the seizure as a pretext for advancing in Hadramout and taking the oil facilities for itself.
National Shield Forces
The Saudi-backed National Shield Forces helped to push back the STC’s latest advances in Yemen and regained control of areas seized by the southern separatists. They are aligned with the Saudi-led coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The NSF has since retaken most of the lands seized by the STC, most recently deploying across Aden and oil-rich regions of Hadramout and al-Mahra.
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout, was appointed by the government to command the Saudi-led forces.
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, said the NSF achieved “record success” in taking back all military and security sites.
Presidential Leadership Council
Yemen’s internationally recognized government is the Presidential Leadership Council, which was formed in 2022 to fight against the Houthis.
But the once allies now have a fractured relationship as PLC members have competing interests and backers. This recent dispute has highlighted the strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
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