Al Mukalla, Yemen — Yemen separatists said they would not be deterred from pursuing their objectives after strikes they blamed on Saudi Arabia hit their positions Friday, in the latest escalation since they seized large swathes of territory last month.
Emirati-backed separatists seeking to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen have in recent weeks made territorial gains. At the same time, regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, the government’s main backer, has warned them to pull back.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the air strikes, which came amid a dramatic escalation in a conflict that, for more than a decade, has plunged Yemen into humanitarian catastrophe.
“The Council affirms that such actions will not serve any path of understanding and will not deter the people of the South from continuing to move forward toward restoring their full rights,” the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) said, referring to the Saudi strikes.
The strikes came as a Yemeni government official in Riyadh told AFP that Saudi may be considering military action against the separatists if talks fail.
A Yemeni military official said around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were amassed near the Saudi border — but were not given orders to advance on separatist-held territory.
All the areas where they were deployed are located at the edges of territory seized in recent weeks by the UAE-backed STC separatist group.
“We have not received military instructions to move towards the two provinces,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
‘Last resort’
Recent separatist advances have added pressure on ties between regional powers Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which support rival groups within Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
The government is a patchwork of groups that includes the separatists and is held together by shared opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis.
A video aired on separatist-affiliated media showed a plume of smoke rising from the desert, with four-wheel white cars in the foreground.
The Saudi-led coalition, which backs the government, did not immediately respond to AFP’s request to confirm the strikes.
The air strikes followed clashes in the area on Thursday between the separatists and a tribal leader close to Saudi Arabia, which killed two separatist fighters according to the STC.
A separatist military official in Hadramawt told AFP that the tribal leader had left the country after the fighting.
The STC told AFP that Saudi Arabia had conducted two strikes in the area.
A Yemeni government official in Riyadh told AFP earlier this week that Saudi Arabia was considering military action against the STC as a “last resort” should efforts to persuade the group to withdraw from newly seized territory fail.
The head of Yemen’s presidential council Rashad al-Alimi met with Western ambassadors and with Saudi Arabia’s defence minister and dispatched government envoys to Aden to persuade the STC to withdraw from Hadramawt and Mahra, said the official, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Earlier this month, a Saudi-Emirati military delegation visited Aden to ask the STC to return the two provinces, with Saudi deescalation efforts still ongoing, Riyadh said on Friday.
If efforts to return those areas collapse, Saudi Arabia had signalled to the Yemeni government that it could launch air strikes and deploy the so-called Nation Shield forces, a Salafist group it backs, to advance on the ground.
‘Serious ramifications’
The separatists’ advances have put the spotlight on the complex position of the main backers of the Yemeni rivals.
On Friday, the UAE welcomed efforts by Saudi Arabia to support security in Yemen, as the two Gulf allies sought to present a united front despite backing different sides in the fighting.
Oman, a mediator that also borders Yemen, called for “avoiding escalation… and engaging in a comprehensive political dialogue.”
Observers have warned that further escalation could lead to renewed conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week that the STC’s advances raised the risk of “wider escalation and further fragmentation”.
“A full resumption of hostilities could have serious ramifications on regional peace and security,” he said, urging parties to de-escalate.
Yemen has been divided by conflict for more than a decade.
The Houthis pushed the government out of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and went on to secure control over most of the north, which includes the country’s major population centres.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
Fighting, however, had decreased significantly since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022.
