Saudi-led coalition says UAE helped smuggle Yemen’s separatist leader out

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has claimed that the United Arab Emirates helped smuggle a separatist leader out of the country after he was expelled from Yemen’s presidential council and accused of treason.

A coalition spokesperson said Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), fled Aden on Tuesday evening on a boat to Somaliland. He was then transported by cargo plane to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu under the supervision of UAE officers, he added.

There was no immediate comment from the UAE or the STC.

The STC insisted that Zubaidi was still working from Aden on Wednesday, after the coalition said he had been unable to travel to Riyadh for negotiations and had fled to an unknown location.

The coalition also accused Zubaidi of moving STC forces from its bases in Aden to her home province of al-Dahle and said she had carried out airstrikes against them in response.

The STC said the strikes, which reportedly killed four people, were “unjustified” and “incompatible” with calls for dialogue with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, overseen by the presidential council and supported by Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday, coalition spokesman General Turki al-Malki said he had “reliable intelligence” showing that Zubaidi and his associates fled the port of Aden in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a passenger ship flying the flag of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The ship crossed the Gulf of Aden to Berbera, in the breakaway region of Somaliland, where an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane was waiting, he added.

Malki said Zubaidi and his associates “boarded the plane under the supervision of UAE officers” and first traveled to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, before heading to the Arabian Sea “with no declared destination”.

“The plane deactivated its identification systems over the Gulf of Oman, reactivating them just 10 minutes before landing at the Al-Reef military air base in Abu Dhabi,” it added, without directly specifying whether Zubaidi was still on board.

In recent weeks, southern Yemen has found itself on the brink of new conflict, pitting factions fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement in the country’s decade-long civil war and widening the divide between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In recent years, forces aligned with the STC have taken control of much of the south, which they want to once again become an independent state, driving out forces loyal to the government.

However, Saudi Arabia warned last week that advances near the kingdom’s borders posed threats to its national security as well as the security and stability of Yemen.

He also accused the UAE of “putting pressure” on its separatist allies to enter eastern Yemen and expressed support for the presidential council’s demand for the departure of all Emirati forces.

At the same time, the Saudi-led coalition – which was formed in 2015 by Arab states including the UAE, after Houthi rebels took control of northwest Yemen – struck what it presented as a shipment of weapons and military vehicles for the STC from the UAE.

The UAE expressed “deep regret” over the Saudi accusations and denied the existence of weapons, but agreed to withdraw its remaining forces from the country.

Since then, forces loyal to the government have regained control of Hadramawt and al-Mahra thanks to coalition airstrikes.

Witnesses and government officials told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that Aden was now also under the control of Saudi-backed forces.