Yemen’s ruling leadership council announced a new cabinet late Friday, naming senior ministers in a presidential decree published by state-run SABA, according to the announcement reported by the Associated Press.
Rashad al-Alimi, who heads Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, presented the cabinet weeks after deadly clashes in the country’s south and after the dissolution of the separatist Southern Transitional Council, AP reported.
The new government comes as the escalation in southern Yemen has highlighted strains within the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government and fights the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement, which controls the most populous areas in the north, including the capital Sanaa.
The cabinet consists of 35 members and is chaired by Prime Minister Shae’a al-Zandani, who also serves as foreign minister, AP said. The cabinet included only two women, Afrah al-Zouba, minister of planning and international cooperation, and Ahd Jaasous, state minister for women’s affairs.
Maj. Gen. Taher al-Aqili was appointed defense minister and Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Haidan was set to lead the Interior Ministry, AP reported. The ministers are expected to oversee Saudi-backed efforts aimed at dismantling militia forces linked to the separatist Southern Transitional Council, which is supported by the United Arab Emirates.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war for more than a decade, involving shifting sectarian and tribal grievances as well as regional power involvement, according to AP’s account. The internationally recognized government has battled Houthis in the north while the Southern Transitional Council has sought an independent state for southern Yemen, positioning itself in the anti-Houthi coalition even as it pursued separatist goals.
In December, STC forces moved into Hadramout and Mahra, where they seized oil-rich areas and facilities and took control of the presidential palace in Aden, AP reported. They then pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-supported National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the anti-Houthi camp.
AP said Saudi-backed forces later regained control of Hadramout, the presidential palace in Aden and camps in al-Mahra, after which the STC announced it would dissolve. The episode and its fallout, AP reported, have also been tied to long-simmering tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of supporting the separatists and, AP reported, said it responded after the UAE-backed separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi—wanted for treason—was smuggled out of Yemen and flown to Abu Dhabi.
The Saudi-led coalition has continued fighting to restore Yemen’s government even as the war has remained largely at a stalemate, AP reported. It said the rebels reached a deal with Saudi Arabia that stopped attacks on the kingdom in return for ending Saudi-led strikes on the rebels’ territories.