Saudi-backed forces regain control of Yemen’s Hadramout after days of airstrikes

Saudi-backed forces spread across Yemen’s Mukalla on Sunday after retaking the port city that had been seized by southern separatists last month, the Associated Press reported.

AP said the advance followed days of Saudi airstrikes and that the capital of Hadramout province was retaken by Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Video footage obtained by AP showed the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces being welcomed by residents as troops drove through streets in armed vehicles, and the footage also showed forces driving around and outside Mukalla’s al-Rayyan Airport.

Residents in Hadramout towns of al-Qatn and Seiyun told AP that the Emirati-backed Southern Transitional Council, or STC, had withdrawn from military camps. AP identified the residents as Ahmed Samaan and Bakr al-Ketheri.

AP reported that tensions rose after the STC moved last month into the governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. It said that move pushed out forces affiliated with the National Shield Forces, which are aligned with the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war for more than a decade, AP said, with the Houthis controlling much of the north and the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government in the south. The AP report also said that the United Arab Emirates, a coalition member, supports the separatists, adding another layer to a conflict that has already fractured along multiple lines.

AP reported that on Saturday, Rashad al-Alimi—head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, the ruling organ of the internationally recognized government—said on Facebook that the National Shield Forces achieved “record success” in taking back all military and security sites in Hadramout. The report said Salem al-Khanbashi was chosen on Friday by the government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate.

According to AP, al-Alimi also called Mohamed Ali Yasser, the governor of Mahra, for a progress report on the handover of camps and facilities to the National Shield Forces and local authorities. AP said it was unclear whether the handover had been completed.

The southern separatists said Saudi warplanes carried out new airstrikes on a military camp in Mukalla on Saturday and other areas where their forces are stationed, AP reported.

AP said Saudi Arabia has bombed STC positions in recent weeks and struck what it described as a shipment of Emirati weapons. After Saudi pressure and an ultimatum from anti-Houthi forces to withdraw from Yemen, AP said the UAE told Reuters it had withdrawn its forces on Saturday.

The AP report said the renewed fighting has further strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, noting the rivalry between the two Arabian Peninsula neighbors, particularly in the Red Sea area, and their competing approaches to Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said Saturday it will host a conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions in Yemen “to discuss just solutions to the southern cause,” AP said.

AP said the STC welcomed the invitation to sponsor the dialogue and described it as the “only rational means to address political issues, foremost among them the issue of the people of the south and their right to restore their state.” AP said no details were given about the conference, and that Saudi Arabia announced the initiative in response to a request for dialogue from al-Alimi.