Yemen separatists accuse Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes against
their forces
[December 26, 2025]
By JON GAMBRELL and AHMED AL-HAJ
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Separatists in southern Yemen accused Saudi Arabia on
Friday of targeting their forces with airstrikes, something not
immediately acknowledged by the kingdom after it warned the forces to
withdraw from governorates they recently took over.
The Southern Transitional Council, backed by the United Arab Emirates,
said the strikes happened in Yemen’s Hadramout governorate. It wasn’t
immediately clear if there were any casualties from the strikes that
further raise tensions in the war-torn nation and put at risk a fragile
Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels
in the country’s north for a decade.
Amr Al Bidh, a foreign affairs special representative for the Council,
said in a statement to The Associated Press that its fighters had been
operating in eastern Hadramout on Friday after facing “multiple
ambushes” from gunmen. Those attacks killed two fighters with the
Council and wounded 12 others, Al Bidh said.
The Saudi airstrikes happened after that, he added.
Saudi warnings precede strikes
Faez bin Omar, a leading member in a coalition of tribes in Hadramout,
told the AP that he believed the strikes served as a warning to the
Council to withdraw its fighters from the area. An eyewitness to the
strikes, Ahmed al-Khed said he saw destroyed military vehicles
afterward, believed to belong to forces allied to the Council.
The Council’s satellite channel AIC aired what appeared to be mobile
phone footage it described as showing the strikes. In one video, a man
speaking could be heard blaming the strike on Saudi aircraft.
Officials in Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for
comment from the AP. On Thursday, the kingdom called on the
Emirati-backed separatists in southern Yemen to withdraw.
The Council moved earlier this month into Yemen’s governorates of
Hadramout and Mahra. That had pushed out forces affiliated with the
Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, another group in the coalition
fighting the Houthis.
Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of South
Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990. Demonstrators
rallied on Thursday in the southern port city of Aden to support
political forces calling for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.
Saudis, Emiratis back different Yemen forces
Following the capture of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the
country’s north by the Houthis in 2014, Aden has been the seat of power
for the internationally recognized government and forces aligned against
the rebels.
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The actions by the separatists have put pressure on the relationship
between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and
are members of the OPEC oil cartel, but also have competed for
influence and international business in recent years.
The UAE said in a statement Friday that it “welcomed the efforts
undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support security and
stability" in Yemen.
“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all
endeavors aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen,
contributing positively to regional security and prosperity,” it
added.
There has also been an escalation of violence in Sudan, another
nation on the Red Sea, where the kingdom and the Emirates support
opposing forces in that country’s ongoing war.
The war in Yemen
The Iranian-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014 and forced
the internationally recognized government into exile. Iran denies
arming the rebels, although Iranian-manufactured weaponry has been
found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen
despite a U.N. arms embargo.
A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence
entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March
2015. Years of inconclusive fighting have pushed the Arab world’s
poorest nation to the brink of famine.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and
civilians, and created one of the globe’s worst humanitarian
disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Houthis, meanwhile, have launched attacks on hundreds of ships
in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly
disrupting regional shipping.
Further chaos in Yemen could again draw in the United States.
Washington launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the rebels
earlier this year that U.S. President Donald Trump halted just
before his trip to the Middle East in October. The Biden
administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including
using B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers
used by the Houthis.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press
writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
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