Joint Saudi-Emirati delegation arrives in south Yemen to defuse takeover by separatist group STC
Discussions by the delegation in Aden, the base of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemeni government, will address measures to rectify recent unilateral actions.
A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation arrived in Aden to discuss measures aimed at defusing tensions in southern Yemen, days after the country’s main southern separatist group claimed broad control across the south, a government source told Reuters on Friday.
The Southern Transitional Council said the takeover included the eastern provinces of Hadhramaut and Mahra, and that the separatist group is present in all eastern provinces of south Yemen, including Aden, the base of the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.
Discussions to be held by the delegation in Aden will address ways to rectify recent unilateral actions, including the withdrawal of any forces brought in from outside the eastern provinces, a source in the presidential office told the state news agency SABA.
The STC, which has been backed in the past by the United Arab Emirates during Yemen’s decade-old civil war, has clashed with other groups, which relocated to Aden after the Iran-aligned Houthis movement captured the capital Sanaa in 2014.
A billboard displays the photo of Aidarous al-Zabidi, the head of Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council in Aden, Yemen December 9, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman)
Takeover of southern Yemen
On Monday, the STC said senior figures from other groups had left Aden, including the head of the eight-member body that serves as the president’s representative and the prime minister.
Senior STC official Amr al-Bidh told Reuters by text message that the eight southern governorates “are under the protection of the Southern Armed Forces.”
“We are concentrating on unifying the operational theater of our armed forces to enhance coordination and readiness to reinforce stability and security in the south, as well as combating the Houthis should there be a willingness to head in this direction.”
Al-Bidh said Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, which replaced the office of president in 2022, had left Aden, as had Prime Minister Salem Saleh Bin Braik, though al-Bidh said the STC had not ordered them to go.
“The institutional makeup remains unchanged,” al-Bidh said.
Presidential Council head al-Alimi, who briefed diplomats in Riyadh on Sunday, said in a statement on Monday that the STC’s actions across the south “undermine the legitimacy of the internationally recognized government” and violate power-sharing agreements.
