Yemeni supporters of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which wants to revive an independent South Yemen, wave the old South Yemen flag, as they rally in Al-Aroud Square, demanding a "second independence", in the coastal port city of Aden. AFP
The recent takeover of areas in Hadhramaut province by the Southern Transitional Council reflects a rift in forces aligned against the Houthis rebels, who have taken most of the country’s north, including the capital, Sanaa.
Since 2014, Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war pitting the Houthis against an internationally recognised government, which is supported by a Saudi-led military coalition. The separatist Southern Transitional Council is part of the anti-Houthi camp, but it seeks an independent state in southern Yemen.
A Yemeni government official said Monday that the Saudi-led coalition had withheld permission for flights, including those to and from the southern city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government.
The official described the move as a “Saudi message” to the separatists, following their latest takeover of areas in the sprawling oil-rich province of Hadhramaut, which borders Saudi Arabia. The escalation could lead to Yemen being split into two states after more than three decades of unification.
Saudi Arabia didn’t acknowledge closing Yemen’s airspace on Monday. Since the entry of a Saudi-led coalition into Yemen’s war in 2015, the coalition has controlled the country’s airspace.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours before flight operations resumed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to brief the media.
An Associated Press journalist at the airport saw workers begin processing passengers of a Cairo-bound flight that was supposed to take off early Monday.
Southern Council expands control
The Southern Transitional Council, or STC — an umbrella of armed groups expanded its control over Yemen’s south earlier this month. They seized control of Seiyun in Hadhramaut, including crucial oil fields and energy installations, including PetroMasila, Yemen’s largest oil company, following brief clashes with the Yemeni military and allied tribes.
Forces of the secessionist group were deployed across the strategic Wadi Hadramout area, which includes major urban centres and military bases, according to STC-allied media. They took over the presidential palace and the international airport in Seiyun last week, and advanced to the province of Mahra, which borders Oman, the group said.
STC hoisted the flag of South Yemen over government buildings across the country’s south, including on the border crossing with Oman. Images circulated on STC-allied media showed the South Yemen flag, with its light blue chevron and a red star, flying over government buildings and schools in the south.
The separatists enjoy loyalty through much of southern Yemen and have repeatedly pushed to break up Yemen into two countries, as it was between 1967 and 1990.
Hundreds of STC supporters took to the streets in Aden to call for the establishment of an independent state in the south. The demonstrators raised the flag of South Yemen and pictures of Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the STC leader, who is also the vice president of the country. There were also protests in Hadramout.
“It’s the summit day, the day of great triumph … when we liberated all regions of the south,” said Mohamed al-Zaher, a Yemeni resident, while flying the flag of South Yemen, which was known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen.
They vowed to stay in the streets until a declaration of the South's independence.
STC forces seized the presidential palace in Aden over the weekend, forcing presidential guards to vacate the facility, according to the government official.
The STC sought to portray its military advances as necessary to restore stability in the region, and to fight the Iran-backed Houthis, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. It said that Hadhramaut Valley has turned into a “platform for smuggling operations” for the Houthis and “hotbeds” for al-Qaida and IS militants, and that its operations there came after “the exhaustion of all options proposed in recent years to restore stability.”
The chairman of the ruling Presidential Council, Rashad al-Alimi, meanwhile, on Sunday called for the Southern forces to withdraw from areas they recently seized in Hadhramaut and Mahra.
“We categorically reject any unilateral measures that would undermine the legal status of the state, harm the public interest, or create a parallel reality,” he said in a statement following his meeting with diplomats from the United States, United Kingdom and France, in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh.
Yemen’s war began in 2014, when the Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country’s north. In response, the Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government to power.
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