Yemen's parliament expresses 'regret' days after STC seizes Hadramout, al-Mahra

Yemen's House of Representatives has expressed "deep regret" over recent developments in southern Yemen, where the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) took control of the governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahra last week.

The legislature said the"unilateral" actions were "outside the framework of the national consensus and the terms of reference regulating the political process", without explicitly naming the UAE-backed STC, Al-Masdar Online reported.

Both the STC and Yemen's internationally recognised government are part of the Presidential Leadership Council, which was formed in 2022 as part of peace agreements between several factions.

The body warned that the military takeover of the two governorates may lead to more violence and work in favour of the "Houthi enemy", whose rival administration controls the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

It urged the Arab coalition countries, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to stand by the UN-recognised administration, and to "work to cancel any unilateral arrangements or measures that have taken place outside the framework of consensus and agreements regulating this".

The STC's takeover of the oil-rich regions has shattered a relative calm in the country's stalemated civil war, threatening a return to the conflict that was fought for over a decade.

The STC is the most powerful group in southern Yemen, with crucial financial and military support from the UAE. It was established in April 2017 as an umbrella organisation for groups that seek to restore South Yemen as an independent state, as it was between 1967 and 1990.

The move also raises tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, which have pursued differing goals in Yemen.

The United Arab Emirates, however, has insisted that its approach in Yemen is in line with Saudi Arabia's goal of "supporting a political process" to settle the multi-layer conflict in Yemen.