Local media, along with the Southern Transitional Council, reported that Saudi Arabia – the main backer of the internationally recognized Yemeni government based in Riyadh – carried out airstrikes on Friday targeting sites controlled by southern forces in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramawt. According to available information, no immediate reports of casualties were recorded. The strikes came less than 24 hours after a clear Saudi call for southern forces to withdraw from the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahrah, where STC-affiliated forces have expanded their presence on the ground in recent weeks. Developments in the field suggest that the latest southern maneuvers have placed Saudi Arabia before a complex political and security test, given its support for multiple actors within the structure of Yemen’s internationally recognized government—an overlap that risks unsettling the coalition’s internal balance. The Yemeni government itself is composed of an intricate alliance of diverse factions, including the Southern Transitional Council.
Its cohesion rests primarily on a shared hostility toward the Iran-backed Houthi movement, despite deep-seated divisions among its components. In this context, Aden Al-Mustaqilla television channel stated in a social media post that “the Saudi Air Force targeted positions belonging to the Hadrami Elite Forces in the Wadi Nahb area of Hadramout province.” No immediate official comment was issued by Saudi authorities to confirm or deny the strikes. Meanwhile, the Southern Transitional Council told Agence France-Presse that Saudi Arabia carried out two airstrikes in the same area, marking an escalation that could usher in a more volatile phase in southern Yemen. The incident comes as the STC has intensified its on-the-ground presence this month, pushing government forces and allied Islamist formations out of wide areas, as part of what it describes as efforts to counter Muslim Brotherhood-linked expansion accused of maintaining undeclared ties with the Houthis.
