A separatist group in southern Yemen said it was urgently trying to contact a delegation it sent to Riyadh for talks aimed at de-escalating tensions among rival forces on the ground, after the group reported that phones were switched off and the delegation’s whereabouts were unknown.
The Southern Transitional Council, which the report described as the most powerful group in southern Yemen, said a 50-member delegation arrived in Riyadh in the morning. One member posted a message on X before the delegation went silent, according to the STC, with phones switched off and members’ locations unclear.
The development came as the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC, said it had expelled the STC leader and charged him with treason after he reportedly declined to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks. The PLC is led by Rashad al-Alimi, the report said, and the STC leader named in the account is Aidarous al-Zubaidi.
Amr al-Bidh, an STC representative, told reporters: “We went to Riyadh to talk. What we received was bombing,” and added, “This is unjustified and unfortunate.” The Saudi foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the report said.
The episode highlighted tensions inside the wider coalition that has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthis based in northern Yemen. The report said one notable rift involved Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which has supported the STC, and said Saudi Arabia launched new airstrikes against the separatists.
In an account of events leading up to the escalation, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said al-Zubaidi was due to fly to Saudi Arabia with other officials but did not join them. Al-Malki said the government received intelligence indicating al-Zubaidi moved a large force, including armored vehicles, combat vehicles, heavy and light weapons, and ammunition, and that he “fled to an unknown location.”
The STC’s position, as presented in the report, was that al-Zubaidi remained in Aden to carry out his duties and that conditions for dialogue do not currently exist. Al-Bidh said the message his group received from the Saudis was: “either you come or we’ll bomb you.”
In Aden, the report said the PLC imposed a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time, with exemptions for medical and security personnel and emergency cases. It also said schools were closed until further notice due to potential security threats, and that checkpoints spread across much of Aden as residents reported that local security forces instructed shop owners and restaurants to close.
Separately, the report said the PLC removed Ahmed Lamles from his post as governor of Aden and referred him for investigation, citing a claim that he supported STC leader al-Zubaidi’s decisions to make advances in Hadramout and Mahra governorates last month.
The Saudi airstrikes described in the report were concentrated in al-Dhale governorate, where al-Zubaidi’s village is located. Salah bin Laghir, an STC leader, said more than 15 Saudi airstrikes overnight hit that area targeting STC camps, while al-Bidh said two civilians died and 14 were injured. Witnesses told The Associated Press they saw armored vehicles affiliated with the STC leaving Aden overnight toward al-Dahle, and they described drones and flames as explosions shook neighborhoods there.
The STC condemned “these unjustified airstrikes,” the report said, and al-Bidh said around 80 people affiliated with the group had been killed since tensions rose in December, with most dying in Saudi bombings. The report also noted that fighting among anti-Houthi coalition members has complicated any unified campaign against the rebels, as Yemen’s decade-long war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and helped create one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.