Saudi-backed forces move to capture key Yemeni city as crisis with UAE deepens

By Mostafa Salem, CNN

(CNN) — Saudi-backed forces moved to capture a key southern Yemeni city on Thursday after Riyadh accused the UAE of helping a separatist leader flee.

Citing “reliable intelligence,” the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the leader of Yemen’s UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, left the country by boat “in the dead of night” for Somaliland, before boarding an aircraft to Mogadishu, which later transported him to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.

CNN has reached out to the UAE foreign ministry for comment.

The interior ministry of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government said in a statement that government-allied National Shield Forces (NSF) had “secured” the southern city of Aden and its security situation was “under control.” The NSF posted a video on social media showing a large convoy of military vehicles mobilizing to “secure several provinces” in the south that had been captured by the STC and allied militias. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.

Aden had been the seat of Yemen’s government since the Iran-backed Houthi movement took over the capital Sana’a in 2014, prompting a military intervention by Saudi Arabia and the UAE a year later. Last month, government officials stationed there fled to Riyadh when the southern forces, led by Al Zubaidi, launched a military offensive to take over the area last month.

Over the past decade, UAE and Saudi agendas in the country diverged, leading them to support rival factions. In particular, the UAE’s backing of southern separatists was at odds with Saudi Arabia’s support for a unified and stable Yemen at its border. The UAE pulled most of its troops from Yemen in 2019, but a small contingent of what it called counter terrorism forces remained.

The advance of STC forces across key southern Yemeni provinces early December infuriated Riyadh and triggered an unprecedented public dispute with its Emirati neighbor, culminating in

Saudi airstrikes on UAE shipments and a call by the Yemeni government for the remaining UAE forces to leave the country in 24 hours, which Saudi Arabia endorsed.

Following the UAE’s withdrawal, Yemeni government forces, with Saudi air support, launched a counteroffensive that pushed the separatists to their former stronghold in Aden. Under intense military pressure, the STC’s leadership agreed to hold talks in Riyadh aimed at de-escalating the conflict.

The Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday that al-Zubaidi was expected to accompany the STC delegation, but instead mobilized “a large military force” to create “chaos and unrest”.

Following the statement, Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused al-Zubaidi of “high treason” for “inciting internal strife”.

An STC foreign affairs official, Amr Al-Bidh, said in a briefing on Tuesday that the delegation of more than fifty STC officials had been incommunicado since arriving in Riyadh. A photo posted on X by the Saudi ambassador to Yemen on Wednesday showed him meeting with the officials in the capital.

“The message (from Saudi Arabia) was either you come, or you are an enemy, and that is your last chance,” Al-Bidh said.

CNN has reached out to the Saudi government for comment.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.