Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Saudi-backed government forces have made significant advances in Yemen’s eastern Hadramawt province, seizing key military and administrative sites amid escalating confrontations with UAE-backed southern separatists, according to Yemeni military officials and local residents. The developments underscore a growing rift between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, long-time allies whose competing interests in Yemen are increasingly coming into open conflict.
Hadramawt, Yemen’s largest and one of its most resource-rich provinces, has in recent weeks become the focal point of tensions between forces aligned with Saudi Arabia and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a powerful secessionist group backed by the United Arab Emirates. The STC has sought to expand its control eastward as part of its broader push to establish an independent southern Yemeni state, a move that has alarmed Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
On Saturday, military officials aligned with the Saudi-backed government said their forces had taken control of the main military base in Mukalla, Hadramawt’s capital and a strategic port city on the Arabian Sea. An AFP journalist reported hearing gunfire in the city early in the day, while residents described a breakdown in security. Despite the unrest, officials said the Saudi-backed forces advanced with little resistance.
Further inland, in the city of Seiyun, around 160 kilometres northwest of Mukalla, government-aligned troops also captured the airport and several administrative buildings. A military official said efforts were under way to secure the facilities after they were targeted in air strikes a day earlier.
The advances followed a sharp escalation on Friday, when the Saudi-led coalition launched a wave of air strikes across Hadramawt. Among the targets was the Al-Khasha military camp, an STC stronghold, where the separatist group said at least 20 people were killed. The strikes came after repeated Saudi warnings to the STC and included an attack earlier in the week on what Riyadh described as an Emirati weapons shipment, signalling a rare public confrontation between the two Gulf allies.
An STC military official acknowledged that the group’s forces had pulled back from several positions under intense air bombardment. “There has been a retreat of our forces, and we are resisting the attacking forces in Seiyun,” the official said, adding that the withdrawal from Al-Khasha was the result of sustained Saudi air strikes.
Residents in Seiyun also reported hearing gunfire and clashes as control of the city shifted, reflecting the volatility spreading across southern Yemen as rival factions vie for territory.
Amid the fighting, Saudi Arabia on Saturday called for dialogue between southern Yemeni factions. In a statement posted on social media, the Saudi foreign ministry urged the holding of a “comprehensive conference in Riyadh” to bring together all southern groups to discuss what it called “just solutions to the southern cause,” saying the invitation had been issued by Yemen’s government.
The United Arab Emirates echoed the call for de-escalation, urging Yemenis to halt the fighting and resolve their differences through dialogue. Despite the appeals, the underlying political divide remains stark.
The STC has in recent days intensified its push for independence, announcing the start of a two-year transitional period toward declaring a separate southern state. The plan, according to the group, would include internal dialogue, talks with Yemen’s north—controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels—and an eventual independence referendum. STC president Aidaros al-Zubaidi warned, however, that the group would declare independence immediately if dialogue failed or if southern areas came under renewed attack.
The latest clashes highlight the fragmentation of the Saudi-led coalition formed in 2015 to restore Yemen’s government and roll back the Houthis’ control of the north. Nearly a decade into the war, the Houthis remain firmly entrenched, while Saudi- and Emirati-backed factions increasingly turn their weapons on one another in the south.
As Hadramawt becomes the newest front in Yemen’s complex conflict, analysts warn that fighting between nominal allies risks further destabilising the country, complicating peace efforts and deepening a humanitarian crisis that has already left millions of Yemenis in need of assistance.
