Saudi strikes hit Yemen as STC leader skips Riyadh talks

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that the leader of Yemen's southern separatists fled to an unknown location after failing to travel to Riyadh for talks, as Saudi-led air strikes hit his home province and the group said it had lost contact with a delegation already in the kingdom.

A spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), had been given a 48-hour ultimatum to travel to Riyadh for discussions after the group seized large swathes of territory last month.

While other STC officials boarded the flight to Saudi Arabia, al-Zubaidi did not. The coalition said intelligence showed he had mobilised large forces, including weapons and ammunition, before fleeing.

Saudi-led air strikes later targeted al-Dhale governorate, al-Zubaidi’s home province, with a local official and hospital sources telling AFP that more than 15 strikes hit the area, killing at least four people.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said the strikes were “limited pre-emptive operations” aimed at preventing al-Zubaidi from escalating the conflict and expanding it further into southern Yemen.

As the situation unfolded, the STC said it had lost contact overnight with a separate delegation that had already arrived in Riyadh for talks, urging Saudi authorities to “guarantee the safety of its delegation currently in Riyadh”.

STC spokesman Anwar Al-Tamimi told AFP that communication with the delegation was cut during the night, shortly after the air strikes.

However, an STC official later confirmed that members of the delegation had reached the Saudi capital. Mohammad al-Ghaithi, a senior STC figure, said in a post on X that he and other officials had arrived in Riyadh and would begin meetings in what he described as a “positive atmosphere”, aimed at preparing for a south-south dialogue under Saudi sponsorship.

Saudi authorities, meanwhile, accused al-Zubaidi of fleeing after distributing weapons to fighters in Aden, where the STC insists its leader remains active. An STC official told AFP that al-Zubaidi chose not to travel to Riyadh after learning he would be asked to dissolve the group.

Later on Wednesday, Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council announced it had stripped al-Zubaidi of his membership and referred him to the public prosecutor. A statement carried by state news agency SABA accused him of high treason, inciting armed rebellion, attacking constitutional authorities and committing abuses against civilians in southern governorates.

Council chair Rashad al-Alimi approved the decision, as security sources said forces loyal to STC deputy leader Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, who is in Riyadh and backed al-Zubaidi’s removal, were deployed around key government buildings in Aden, including the presidential palace.

Saudi media reported that Saudi-backed forces were moving towards Aden, raising fears that fighting could reach Yemen’s second city, an STC stronghold and the group’s headquarters.

The confrontation has deepened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both nominally allied in Yemen but long backing rival factions. The STC’s advances and the Saudi response have further fractured a coalition originally formed to fight the Iran-aligned Houthis.

More than 100 people have been killed in coalition strikes and clashes with separatist forces in recent weeks, according to security and medical sources.

The Houthis seized the capital Sana’a in 2014, prompting Gulf intervention the following year. Yemen has since been split into rival zones of control, with the latest escalation heightening fears of renewed instability in the south, particularly in Aden, which became the government’s temporary capital after the Houthis took the north.

Last week, al-Zubaidi announced a two-year transition plan towards establishing a new state in southern Yemen, a move that has further inflamed tensions within the fractured government.