CAIRO (AP) — An Emirati-backed secessionist group in Yemen said its forces were marching Monday to another province as part of the group’s push to expand areas under its control in the country’s south, at the expense of its allies in the internationally recognized government.
The Southern Transitional Council this month seized most of the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra, including crucial oil facilities and the border with Oman. The move raised fears that the relative calm in the country’s stalemated civil war might be shattered.
Saudi-led efforts to deescalate in southern Yemen have not made a breakthrough as the separatists still reject the withdrawal of their forces from areas they recently seized, according to a Yemeni government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.
Yemen has been mired for more than a decade in a civil war that involves a complex interplay of sectarian grievances and the involvement of regional powers.
The Iran-aligned Houthis control the most populous regions of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. Meanwhile, a loose regional coalition of powers — including Saudi Arabia and the UAE — has backed the internationally recognized government in the south.
The Southern Armed Forces, the armed wing of the separatist group, announced Monday that its forces have begun an operation in the province of Abyan.
It said on social media the fresh march is part of Operation Eastern Arrows, which STC launched in August 2022 with the aim of fighting an affiliate of al-Qaida that was active in the eastern part of the province.
The forces’ spokesman, Lt. Col. Mohammed al-Naqib, posted images on the X social media platform showing armored vehicles and troops advancing toward what he said was Abyan.
He told a television channel affiliated with the STC that their forces have began “the immediate offensive on multiple targets” in Abyan. He didn’t elaborate further.
Abyan is located on the Gulf of Aden, a deepwater gulf that connects the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea. It serves as a crucial land link between Yemen’s southern cities and Mahra, on the border with Oman.
No breakthrough in Saudi efforts to deescalate
The latest march is likely to complicate Saudi-led efforts to deescalate tensions between the separatist group and the internationally recognized government.
The government official said STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who is also vice president of the country’s Presidential Leadership Council, rejected the withdrawal of his forces from areas they recently seized in Hadramout and Mahra.
“The south today stands at a critical and existential juncture imposed by the realities of the political and military situation,” al-Zubaidi said in a meeting last week with STC members. “The next phase will be one of intensive work to build the institutions of the future South Arabian state.”
In a separate meeting with al-Khader al-Sawadi, governor of Bayda province, which is controlled by the Houthis, al-Zubaidi said Wednesday their aim should be seizing Sanaa from the Iranian-backed rebels.
He was quoted by the STC website as saying that “the next goal must be Sanaa, peacefully or through war, until justice returns to its people and aggression is defeated.”
The war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed coalition has been stalemated in recent years, after the rebels reached a deal with Saudi Arabia that stopped their attacks on the kingdom in return for ceasing the Saudi-led strikes on Houthi-held territories.
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