Seven people killed by Saudi air strikes in southern Yemen, say separatists
Seven fighters were killed after Saudi Arabia carried out air strikes on positions held by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in southeastern Yemen, the separatist group said on Friday.
More than 20 others were also wounded as seven air strikes hit a camp in al-Khasah, said Mohammed Abdulmalik, head of the STC in Wadi Hadhramaut and the Hadhramaut Desert.
Strikes were also reported at an airport and military base in Hadhramaut's city of Seiyun.
The attacks came as forces backed by Riyadh launched an offensive to reclaim territory taken over by the STC in December.
Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of the Hadhramout province, who is supported by Saudi Arabia, said early on Friday that he was launching a “peaceful operation” to take back military positions seized by the STC during its rapid offensive a month ago.
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Local media quoted Khanbashi as saying that the operation would not target "political or social" groups, but aimed to "peacefully and systematically hand over military sites".
Later on Friday, the governor said that his forces had taken over al-Khasah camp, the largest military base in Hadhramout.
A senior STC official accused Riyadh of spreading “empty” claims about peace.
“Saudi Arabia knowingly misled the international community by announcing a ‘peaceful operation’ that they never had any intention to keep peaceful,” Amr al-Bidh, the STC’s foreign affairs special representative, said.
“This was evidenced by the fact that they launched seven air strikes minutes later. Whilst they continue to spread an empty claim of wanting de-escalation, their actions indisputably prove otherwise.”
Saudi Arabia did not officially comment on the air strikes, though Saudi sources confirmed them to AFP.
A source close to the Saudi military warned that Riyadh would not stop until the STC "withdraws from the two governorates".
The deaths on Friday mark the first by Saudi-led coalition fire in Yemen since the STC offensive a month ago.
Khanbashi was granted full military, security and administrative authority by Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) - the internationally recognised government - to retake positions in the east.
He was given overall command of the “Homeland Shield” forces.
“The operation is not a declaration of war or an escalation, but rather a precautionary measure to protect security and prevent chaos,” Khanbashi said.
Later on Friday, a military spokesperson for the STC told AFP that the group was now in a "decisive and existential" war with Saudi-backed forces.
Growing Saudi involvement against the STC
The STC - which advocates for an independent state in southern Yemen - seized control of swathes of territory in early December, including in the Hadhramout and al-Mahra provinces.
Southern Yemen has for years been overseen by the PLC, an executive government body that includes the STC and initially had both Saudi and Emirati support.
The eight-member PLC has been riddled with disagreements and jostling. Half of its members support the separatists.
In a significant intervention, Mohammed al-Jaber, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, on Friday blamed the leader of the STC for refusing to allow a Saudi delegation to land in Aden a day earlier.
Jaber said that PLC vice-president and STC chairman Aidarus al-Zubaidi had issued a directive closing air traffic at Aden’s airport, denying a Saudi delegation who were seeking to have de-escalation talks permission to land.
No planes have taken off or landed in Aden airport for over 24 hours, according to Flightradar24.
Jaber added that Zubaidi had made several unilateral decisions without any regard for the PLC, the “most dangerous” of which was his leadership of “the military attack on the governorates of Hadhramout and al-Mahra”.
The ambassador said the offensive “was accompanied by security disturbances in the two governorates and terrorising of the peaceful people”.
“Zubaidi… bears direct responsibility for implementing agendas that have harmed the interests of the people of the southern governorates and their cause, and which seek to create a rift between them and their brothers in the Kingdom,” Jaber said.
The statement marks yet more strong rhetoric by Riyadh against the STC in Yemen.
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia bombed an Emirati shipment in southern Yemen, and for the first time directly called out the UAE’s role in backing the southern separatists.
Riyadh targeted a shipment that had arrived in the Yemeni port of Mukalla on two vessels originating in Fujairah, a port city on the east coast of the UAE.
The kingdom followed it up by publishing a statement criticising the UAE’s role in Yemen.
The Saudi foreign ministry said it was disappointed by actions taken by the UAE “pressuring” the STC’s forces to conduct military operations on Saudi Arabia’s southern border, in Hadhramaut and al-Mahra.
Abu Dhabi responded by saying that Saudi Arabia’s statement contained “fundamental inaccuracies”.
But hours after the Saudi strike on Tuesday, following a request from the head of the PLC, the Emirati defence ministry announced that its forces were withdrawing from Yemen.
The Emirati presence in Yemen is small, and the decision is unlikely to have a large military impact.
"The UAE maintains only a limited presence made up of rotating advisory, intelligence, counterterrorism and reconnaissance personnel," Mohammed al-Basha, an expert on Yemen and founder of the Basha Report, told MEE earlier this week.
"This is not a large-scale combat force and does not conduct major offensive operations."
The UAE confirmed on Friday that the last of its forced had left Yemen, and that it was seeking de-escalation in the country.
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