Billboards with images of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), in Aden, Yemen, December 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
Jan 7 (Reuters) - The leader of Yemen's southern separatists failed to board a flight to Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday and his fate was unclear, clouding efforts to contain a military escalation that has caused a major rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
A fast-moving crisis in Yemen has ignited a feud between the two most powerful countries in the oil-rich Gulf and fractured a coalition headed by Yemen's internationally recognised government that is fighting the Iran-backed Houthis.
After Aidarous al-Zubaidi's unexplained absence from the Riyadh talks, his Southern Transitional Council said he was overseeing military and security operations in the southern port city of Aden. Reuters could not verify his whereabouts.
Underscoring the tensions, Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council expelled Zubaidi and accused him of treason.
'THREAT TO BOMB ADEN'
Senior STC official Amr Al Beidh said Aden was still under the group's control. Beidh said Saudi Arabia told Zubaidi it would bomb Aden if he did notattend the talks.
Zubaidi did not travel to Riyadh for the meeting because he did not want to leave a security vacuum in the port city, said Beidh, speaking from Abu Dhabi in an online briefing. There was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia to Beidh's comments.
Asked about concerns of a split within the separatist group, Beidh said: "We don't have problems in STC regarding our people. We understand and know and trust our people."
Another senior STC official said that he and other members of a delegation had arrived in the Saudi capital and talks would go ahead. Hours earlier, the group had said it had lost contact with its delegation.
"I have arrived in Riyadh accompanied by colleagues from Aden, and in a positive atmosphere, we will begin a series of meetings to prepare for a South-South dialogue under the sponsorship of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Mohammad Al Ghaithi said in a post on X.
It was unclear who would lead the STC in those talks.
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, were advancing towards Aden, Saudi state television reported without elaborating.
The Saudi coalition also said it carried out limited pre-emptive airstrikes in the southern province of al-Dhalea, Zubaidi's birthplace, after monitoring the movements of armed forces that had left their camps.
Local sources and sources within the STC reported more than 15 strikes in the province.
LATEST FIGHTING PUTS SAUDI, UAE ON OPPOSITE SIDES
The dramatic developments dashedhopes for swift resolution of the recent turmoil in Yemen's south and an end to fighting that erupted last month between the STC, backed by the UAE, and Yemen's Saudi-backed internationally recognised government.
The UAE has pursued an assertive foreign policy and carved its own sphere of influence across the Middle East and Africa, a strategy in the spotlight after its rare military escalation with Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
The country, a regional business and trade hub, has used alliances with states or proxies and financial support mainly to counter what it views as the destabilising, existential threat of political Islam.
Zubaidi had been due to travel to Saudi Arabia days after Yemen's government said it had asked Riyadh to host a forum on the southern issue.
But on Wednesday, the Saudi-backed presidential council stripped Zubaidi of his membership and referred him to the public prosecutor on charges including high treason, Yemen state news agency SABA said.
The decision, issued by presidential council chairman Rashad al-Alimi, accused Zubaidi of inciting armed rebellion, attacking constitutional authorities and committing abuses against civilians in southern Yemen.
The council has also dismissed Aden Governor Ahmed Lamlas, referred him for investigation, and appointed Abdulrahman al‑Yafie as his replacement, SABA reported.
Security forces announced the imposition of a curfew across all districts of Aden, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. local time, SABA said.
Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson of the Saudi-backed coalition, said there were indications that Zubaidi had moved large forces and that the coalitionhad asked the vice president of the STC, Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, known as Abu Zara’a, to impose security. Abu Zara'a had met the Saudi defence minister in Riyadh on January 5.
LONG CIVIL WAR
Saudi Arabia and the UAE first intervened in Yemen more than a decade ago after the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014.
The UAE joined the Saudi-backed coalition the following year in support of the internationally recognised government.
The Southern Transitional Council, set up in 2017 with UAE backing, ultimately joined the government coalition.
For years, it has been part of that administration, which controls southern and eastern Yemen and is backed by Gulf states.
But last month STC forces suddenly seized swathes of territory, shifting the delicate balance of power and pitting Saudi Arabia against the UAE.
The UAE pulled its forces out of Yemen last month under pressure from Saudi Arabia, which saw the southern advance on its borders as a threat to its national security. The UAE has called for de-escalation in Yemen since.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray; Writing by Maha El Dahan and Michael Georgy; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Clarence Fernandez and Alex Richardson)
