According to Saudi news agency SPA, Saudi officials received detailed information about the movement of large armed groups, including armored vehicles and ammunition, from camps in Hadid and Al Sulban towards Ad Dali province. This mobilization came hours after Aidarus al Zubaidi, president of the Southern Transitional Council and a key figure in Yemen’s separatist forces, was scheduled to travel to Riyadh to hold negotiations with the president of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Rashad al Alimi, and coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki. The unexpected shipment of war materials raised alarm in Saudi Arabia, which then announced it would carry out preemptive strikes to stop a possible intensification of fighting in southwest Yemen.
According to Turki al Maliki, coalition spokesman and quoted by SPA, the attacks were carried out around 4 a.m. (local time) with the aim of preventing an attempt by Aidarus al Zubaidi to “aggravate the conflict and spread it to Ad Dali province.” The statement sent by the Saudi army highlighted that al-Zubaidi had distributed weapons and ammunition to dozens of elements in Aden, Yemen’s southern capital, in an attempt to incite threatening unrest in the region.
SPA media detailed that the Yemeni government and the coalition announced joint cooperation with the local authorities of Aden to “support and maintain security efforts and counter any military force that targets cities and civilians.” The aim of this approach is to prevent the spread of violence in regions where civilian populations are concentrated, while maintaining territorial control amid a fragmented and contested geography.
The Southern Transitional Council, led by al Zubaidi and supported by the United Arab Emirates, currently controls large parts of southern and eastern Yemen. The separatist organization has repeatedly put forward its proposal to create a “just federal state” that welcomes all sectors of local society, although its aspirations clash with the authority of Yemen’s central government and the regional balance of power.
As the SPA agency reported, the rivalry reached a new level when the Saudi army carried out a targeted attack at the end of December against the transfer of weapons and combat vehicles allegedly transported on ships from the United Arab Emirates in support of the Southern Transition Council. This operation was welcomed by the Yemeni executive, which decided to declare a state of emergency for ninety days to stop the increase in tensions and restore control over the supply of war materials.
In recent weeks, the Saudi government has escalated its accusations against the Southern Transition Council, pointing out that its unilateral actions had led to an “unwarranted escalation” by launching offensives against military positions in the Hadramut and Mahra governorates in the east of the country. The council has rejected repeated calls to withdraw from those provinces and, according to SPA, has consolidated its dominance with the support of the elite Hadramut forces responsible for security in Mukalla and Ash Shihr, two of the region’s most important cities.
The territorial situation in Yemen is highly fragmented. While the Southern Transitional Council retains control over much of the south and east, the internationally recognized government administers Marib in the northeast and Taiz in the southwest. For their part, the Iran-linked Houthi militias have consolidated their authority over large parts of the north and center of the country, cementing the rivalry of multiple fronts and players in the ongoing Yemen crisis.
According to the SPA agency, these clashes and military operations have made any attempt at dialogue and negotiated settlement more complex, while increasing pressure on the Yemeni people. The arms transfer and pre-emptive offensives reinforce the climate of mutual distrust between the main factions and complicate the task of containing violence in a region where local interests and conflicting foreign support converge.
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