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| UAE-backed 🇦🇪 STC forces are collapsing in Hadramout |
| 2026-01-04 |
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Text: The scale of videos emerging from Hadramawt showing widespread looting is staggering. I am seeing footage of an aircraft stairs truck being looted from Yemeni Airways facilities at Sayoun Airport, possibly even from aviation assets linked to Al-Rayyan Airport. I am also seeing civilians looting containers filled with ammunition and weapons, from locations such as the Al-Rayyan Airforce base and the Dhabba Oil Terminal Base. In Mukalla, videos show young men looting the Judiciary Complex and carrying away computers and laptops. Other footage shows civilian vehicles openly transporting ammunition, including ATGMs and RPGs. While some may find this almost comical, the reality is deeply troubling. More at the link Saudi-backed forces make advances in Yemen's Hadramawt [AnNahar] Saudi-backed troops on Saturday made advances in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... 's resource-rich Hadramawt province, military officials said, as confrontations between forces backed by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have triggered a deep rift between the two Gulf allies. The Saudis and Emiratis have for years supported rival factions in Yemen's fractious government. But the UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council's recent offensive to capture Hadramawt angered Riyadh and left the oil-rich regional powers on a collision course. Following repeated warnings and air strikes, including on an alleged Emirati weapons shipment this week, the Saudi-led coalition launched a wave of attacks on Friday, including on the al-Khasha military camp in Hadramawt that left 20 dead, according to the separatist group. Two military officials with the Saudi-aligned government told AFP on Saturday morning that Riyadh-backed forces had taken control of the principal military base in the Yemeni city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt. According to an AFP journalist, gunfire could be heard in the city early Saturday and while residents described a security breakdown there, Saudi-backed forces appeared to advance with little resistence. In the province's city of Seiyun, 160 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of Mukalla, a government military official said pro-Saudi forces had taken control of the airport, targeted in Friday's strikes, as well as administrative buildings. "We are working to secure them," the military official said. A STC military official said: "There has been a retreat of our forces and we are resisting the attacking forces in Seiyun." "We carried out a complete withdrawal from the areas of al-Khasha... as a result of pressure from Saudi air strikes on us," he added. - CALL FOR DIALOGUE - Residents in Seiyun also said they heard gunfire and festivities early on Saturday. Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... on Saturday called for dialogue between factions in southern Yemen. In a statement posted to social media, the Saudi foreign ministry called for "a comprehensive conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause". Riyadh said the Yemeni government had issued the invitation for talks. Also on Saturday, the UAE urged Yemenis to "halt escalation and resolve differences through dialogue". The STC is now pushing to declare independence and form a breakaway state, which would split the Arabian Peninsula's poorest state in two. On Friday the separatists announced the start of a two-year transitional period towards declaring an independent state and said the process would include dialogue and a referendum on independence. STC president Aidaros Alzubidi said the transitional phase would include dialogue with Yemen's north -- controlled by Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels -- and a referendum on independence. But he warned that the group would declare independence "immediately" if there was no dialogue or if southern Yemen was attacked again. The Saudi-backed coalition was formed in 2015 in an attempt to dislodge the Houthi rebels from Yemen's north. But after a brutal, decade-long civil war, the Houthis remain in place while the Saudi and Emirati-backed factions attack each other in the south. re Related: Hadramout: 2026-01-01 Al-Shabaab fighters are being recycled through AQAP-linked networks and drawn into the Yemen conflict Hadramout: 2025-12-31 Escalation in Yemen threatens to reignite civil war, widen tensions in Gulf region Hadramout: 2025-12-28 War between UAE and SaudiArabia over control of Hadramout, Yemen may be imminent Related: Mahra Governorate: 2025-12-07 The situation in Al-Mahra remains unresolved Mahra Governorate: 2022-12-21 Houthi Restrictions Hinder UN Efforts to Study Food Security in Yemen Related: Hadramawt 01/03/2026 Danish leader blasts Trump over Greenland amid his threats to take it over as she warns of building up her country's military Hadramawt 01/03/2026 Latest Battlefield Situation After the UAE’s Withdrawal Announcement Hadramawt 01/01/2026 Saudi Arabia needs to know UAE ‘serious’ about Yemen pullback – source |
| Posted by:badanov |