Saudi-backed Yemeni forces retake oil-rich provinces from separatists

Yemeni troops backed by Saudi Arabia retook an oil-rich region over the weekend from a separatist militia seeking to form a breakaway state.

The National Shield Forces, supported by Saudi airstrikes, took control of Hadramout and Al-Mahra provinces from the Southern Transitional Council backed by the UAE.

The STC, which seeks independence for southern Yemen, had seized the provinces in a surprise offensive last month.

The victory of the National Shield Forces, operating under the authority of the Presidential Leadership Council, the Arab country’s internationally recognised government, marks a turning point in a decade-old civil warincreasingly seen as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE were once allies in a Gulf coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis – who now control much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa – but turned against each other as they backed rival factions competing for influence, resources, and strategic control in the country’s south.

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Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, hailed the operation as a “record success” in restoring state authority in areas bordering Saudi Arabia.

The government also announced its forces had taken control of Mukalla, the key eastern port and capital of Hadramout province.

Salem al-Khanbashi, governor of Hadramout, was chosen on Friday by the government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate.

Footage showed the forces being welcomed by residents as they drove through the streets outside Mukalla's al-Rayyan airport in armed vehicles.

Anwar al-Tamimi, an STC spokesman, said their forces withdrew in the face of Saudi bombardment that caused multiple casualties.

“To protect the lives of our fighters, we pulled back after advancing, under immense pressure,” he said, according to the New York Times. “Al-Mahra and Hadramout are now outside our control.”

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Yemen erupted in civil war in 2014 after the Houthis ousted president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, reshaping the power map of the poorest Arab nation.

After the Houthis took Sanaa about 10 years ago to consolidate their control over northern Yemen, the leadership relocated south, leaving the nation split in practice. Parallel institutions emerged, including rival central banks, state media outlets, and even different currency values.

The authority of the council has been weak for years, with key southern cities such as Aden and Al-Mukalla, largely run by separatist groups.

Saudi Arabia, in recent weeks, bombed STC positions and struck what it said was a shipment of Emirati weapons.

After Saudi pressure and an ultimatum from anti-Houthi forces to withdraw from Yemen, the UAE on Saturday said it had pulled its forces from the country.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said it would host a conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions in Yemen “to discuss just solutions to the southern cause”.

The STC welcomed the invitation, calling it the “only rational means to address political issues, foremost among them the issue of the people of the south and their right to restore their state”.