UAE welcomes Saudi efforts to support security in Yemen amid STC advance | Conflict News

The statement comes a day after Saudi Arabia called on Yemeni separatists to withdraw from seized eastern governorates this month.

The UAE welcomed Saudi efforts to support security and stability in Yemen and remains committed to supporting stability in the country, the UAE Foreign Ministry said.

The UAE’s statement on Friday came a day after Saudi Arabia declared he hopes that southern Yemen’s main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), will end the escalation and withdraw its forces from the eastern provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra.

The STC, which had previously received military and financial support from the UAE, pushed back the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government from its headquarters in Aden while “claiming broad control over the entire south earlier this month”.

“The UAE reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to supporting all efforts aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen,” the UAE Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

On December 12, a joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation arrived in Aden to discuss measures to defuse tensions in the country.

Saudi Arabia said the teams had been sent to make “necessary arrangements” to ensure the return of STC forces to their previous positions outside the two provinces, adding that efforts were still ongoing.

The STC’s advance threatens to spark a confrontation within a fragile coalition that has been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in northern Yemen for a decade.

The separatists were initially part of the alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis. But the group turned against the government and sought autonomy in the south.

Yemen has already been gripped by civil war since 2014, with the Houthis controlling the northern part of the country, including the capital Sanaa, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.

Situated between Saudi Arabia and a major shipping route on the Red Sea, Yemen was divided into northern and southern states until 1990.