Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, December 31, 2025. AP
Air strikes killed 20 separatist fighters in Yemen on Friday, January 2, an official with the group said, as a Saudi-led coalition hit back against a sweeping advance by the United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transition Council (STC) and Abu Dhabi called for calm.
The deaths are the first from coalition fire since the secessionist STC seized swathes of Hadramawt and Mahra provinces last month. Other strikes hit the airport and military base in Hadramawt's Seiyun city on Friday, an STC source and witnesses said. A military spokesman for the STC said it was in a "decisive and existential" war with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces, characterising it as a fight against radical Islamism – a longtime preoccupation of the UAE.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have for years supported rival factions in Yemen's government-run territories, but the STC's offensive has angered Riyadh and left the oil-rich Gulf powers at loggerheads.
The UAE said after the strikes on Friday that it sought de-escalation and that its last forces had left Yemen. "The UAE concluded the presence of its counterterrorism forces," a government official said, adding Abu Dhabi "remains committed to dialogue, de-escalation, and internationally supported processes as the only sustainable path to peace."
