Yemen's southern movement has defended its military takeover of the south-east of the country, pushing back against calls to resolve its disagreements with government partners through negotiation.
Territory across Yemen's coastline has fallen in recent weeks to the Southern Transitional Council.
The STC, part of Yemen’s UN-backed government, launched military operations to take over three provinces in the name of combating terrorism and smuggling. It accuses other parties in the government of mishandling the economy and national security.
Mohamed Al Sahimi, the STC representative in the UK, claimed his party was stepping into a security “vacuum” to shore up the region.
“Armed militias had been enabled by northern government troops in Hadhramaut, including those associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, including Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula,” he told The National.
“Across the south, the STC is leading on security responsibilities to protect our civilians and counter the threat from the Houthis in the north. This is fully in the interests of Yemen, the region and the West.”
The STC has long called for a separation of north and south Yemen, after the Iran-backed Houthi militia took over the country's north in a coup in 2014. Other factions within the government are hopeful a peace process can reunite the country instead.
A prominent leader of the government's largest bloc believes the issues over governing the south can be resolved through dialogue.
Abdulrazak Al Hijri, acting secretary general of Al Islah, told an audience in London that his party is committed to dialogue following the STC push.
Although Al Islah and the STC are political rivals, they have maintained a united front in opposing the Houthis, he said.
Mr Al Hijri believes a diplomatic solution is possible and STC leaders met members of his faction recently.
“The STC has their project, which is the restoration of the southern state,” he said, speaking at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House in London. “We do not have a problem with this issue being discussed.
One of the party's objectives is that the oil-rich province of Hadhramaut is returned “to state institutions” as part of a package in which the STC’s issues with the government are “resolved without the use of violence”.
The STC took control of Hadhramaut this month after tribal leader Sheikh Al Habreish tried to seize some of the region's oilfields from the Yemeni army.
The STC says it will retain its presence in the provinces to combat smuggling and terrorist networks in south-eastern Yemen that feed the Houthis, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al Shabab in Somalia.
It has accused a branch of the Yemeni army in Hadhramaut, known as the First Military Region, of allowing these smuggling networks to continue. The First Military Region is reportedly loyal to Al Islah party.
STC leader Gen Aidarous Al Zoubaidi has suggested that a “serious campaign to free the north” of Yemen could be next target for the movement.
Al Islah is viewed as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement that has recently become subject to US sanctions as a result of alleged links to Islamist extremism.
Its founder Sheikh Abdallah Al Ahmar wrote of the party’s connections to the Brotherhood in 2007 and his son Hamid was designated a terrorist funder in October 2024 for providing financial support to Hamas.
The party’s leaders have denied any affiliation to the organisation for more than a decade, but that may not be enough to shield it from further sanctions on the Brotherhood being considered by the US government, said Mohammed Abdelmoghni, of the Yemen and Gulf Centre for Studies in Aden.
“The recurrent denial by the Al Islah party leadership of its connection to the Muslim Brotherhood organisation is viewed as a tactic to protect the party's political standing and local gains amidst these international shifts,” Mr Abdelmoghni wrote in a report published last week.
