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Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supporting the Southern Transitional Council's (STC) military operations in Yemen, escalating tensions in the region as the STC seized control of Hadramaut and Al-Mahra provinces in the eastern part of the country.
Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohamed al-Jabir claimed that the STC prevented a Saudi official aircraft carrying a Saudi diplomatic delegation from landing in Aden on Jan. 1, despite prior agreement with some STC leaders to find solutions serving mutual interests.
"He rejected issuing a permit for an aircraft carrying an official Saudi delegation dated January 1, 2026, to Aden, which was agreed upon with some leaders of the Transitional Council to find solutions and exits serving everyone and achieving the public interest," Jabir stated in an official statement on the social media platform X.
The Saudi ambassador accused STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi of unilateral decisions, military escalation, and blocking diplomatic efforts.
"The president of the Southern Transitional Council, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, made many unilateral decisions without any regard to his political commitment as a member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council," Jabir said.
"The most dangerous of those decisions was his leadership of the military attack on Hadramaut and Al-Mahra governorates and the accompanying security deterioration in the two governorates and the terrorizing of the secure, with casualties and wounded among civilians from the people of Hadramaut," he added.
Jabir stated that Zubaidi issued direct orders to close air traffic operations at Aden airport, causing severe harm to the Yemeni people.
"He issued direct orders to close air traffic movement at Aden airport, which caused severe damage to the Yemeni people and is considered irresponsible behavior, undermines political, military and security coordination efforts, and constitutes a dangerous precedent reflecting insistence on escalation and rejection of de-escalation paths," the Saudi ambassador said.
He emphasized that the actions reflected al-Zubaidi's focus on personal political and financial interests rather than the southern cause or Yemen's general welfare.
"This also confirmed his concern for his personal political and financial interests, implementation of agendas unrelated to the southern issue in particular or Yemen in general," he stated.
The Saudi ambassador stressed that Riyadh has made significant efforts to support peace, security, stability, development, and the Yemeni economy, supporting the southern cause as a just issue with historical and social dimensions.
"The Kingdom has exerted great efforts to support peace, security, stability, development and the Yemeni economy. It has supported and continues to support the southern cause in Yemen as a just issue with historical and social dimensions, and its real solution is through the dialogue table politically, in a way that satisfies the aspirations of our brothers in the southern Yemeni governorates, including the Southern Transitional Council," he added.
However, the ambassador criticized the exploitation of the southern issue for personal gains, stating that such actions have harmed the southern cause and eliminated achievements from previous agreements.
"Exploiting the southern issue and competing over it to achieve personal gains and exclusion and marginalization of the people of the southern governorates harmed it and deprived it of the gains that were achieved, whether through the outputs of the comprehensive Yemeni national dialogue 2014 or the Riyadh agreement 2019 or the power transfer decision 2022," he said.
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"The Kingdom sought for several weeks and until yesterday to exert all efforts with the Southern Transitional Council to end the escalation and exit of the Transitional Council forces from the camps outside the two governorates and hand them over to the National Shield forces in Hadramaut, but it faced continued rejection and obstinacy from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the Saudi ambassador stated.
"Aidarous al-Zubaidi, as president of the Southern Transitional Council, bears direct responsibility for implementing agendas that harmed the interests of the people of the southern governorates and their cause and seek to create a gap between them and their brothers in the Kingdom," he said.
"Great hope lies in the wise leaders of the Southern Transitional Council to prioritize the voice of wisdom and the language of reason, to achieve the aspirations of the people of our brother Yemen in its north and south," he concluded.
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