Saudi-led coalition fighter jets carried out air strikes on positions held by Yemen’s UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the eastern province of Hadramaut on Friday, amid rising tensions between rival anti-Houthi factions over control of military sites.
Yemen’s Information Ministry said the strikes targeted STC forces accused of setting up ambushes against government troops during the handover of military positions in the province.
According to officials, the ambushes were carried out along routes used by government forces as they advanced to take control of the sites.
Hadramaut Governor Salem al-Khanbashi said the air strikes were launched after armed groups attacked “Dera’ al-Watan” units during what he described as a peaceful deployment aimed at restoring state authority.
The STC said the air strikes killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. A senior STC official said seven strikes hit a camp in the Al-Khasah area of Hadramaut and claimed that STC fighters repelled a subsequent ground assault. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia, though the official said the raids were carried out by the kingdom.
The air strikes came hours after al-Khanbashi announced that Yemeni forces loyal to the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government were preparing to push STC forces out of parts of Hadramaut in what he termed a “peaceful operation” to retake military bases.
He said the move was not a declaration of war and did not target civilians or political groups.
Al-Jaber also accused al-Zubaidi, who is a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, of taking unilateral decisions and directing military deployments in Hadramaut and neighbouring Al-Mahra, which he said had led to security breakdowns and civilian harm.
Tensions have been rising since early December, when UAE-backed STC forces moved into large areas of Hadramaut and Al-Mahra — two resource-rich provinces that together account for nearly half of Yemen’s territory and border Saudi Arabia and Oman.
The STC, formed in 2017 from the Southern Movement, seeks autonomy or independence for southern Yemen, which existed as a separate state before unification in 1990. The group is backed by the United Arab Emirates, which has provided political and military support.
Yemen has been in conflict since 2014, when the Houthi movement seized the capital, Sanaa, triggering a civil war that drew in regional powers. Saudi Arabia backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government and supports a unified state, while the UAE and the STC favour greater southern autonomy.
The latest clashes in Hadramaut highlight widening divisions within Yemen’s anti-Houthi camp, as rival factions backed by regional allies compete for influence and control in government-held areas.