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| Arabia |
| Saudi Arabia Bungles Yemen—Again |
| 2026-04-26 |
| [MEForum] When Saudi forces attacked Yemen’s southern forces, they left a vacuum into which Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula resurged In Southern Yemen on February 5, 2026, the Saudi-backed Yemeni Army deploys security checkpoints in the streets of Hadramawt. A year ago, southern Yemen was the most stable and secure part of the country. Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the president of the Southern Transitional Council and the vice president of Yemen, had not only restored security, but also had created a climate conducive to investment. Yemeni diaspora, Saudis, Indians, and especially Emiratis were investing in the region. The Emiratis were building civilian airports in every province. In Ataq, capital of the southern Shabwa province, a huge solar farm was about to come online. Both the portion of Southern Yemen that Zubaidi controlled and nearby Mocha, a part of the former North Yemen controlled by Tareq Saleh, nephew of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, were the only truly secure and prosperous regions of Yemen. Zubaidi and Saleh coordinated closely, though Zubaidi declined to hold territory across the former border, a diplomatic signal that Yemenis welcomed but spurred Saudi paranoia. Riyadh was upset because Southern Forces had recently pushed into the interior of the Hadramawt after internal tribal unrest. On December 30, 2025, the Saudi Air Force bombed Mukalla, the capital of southern Yemen’s Hadramawt Province. Saudi authorities justified the strikes with the accusation that the United Arab Emirates had shipped military goods to Zubaidi’s Southern Forces. Riyadh was upset because Southern Forces had recently pushed into the interior of the Hadramawt after internal tribal unrest. The Southern extension into Hadramawt improved regional security; the Hadramawt is key terrain through which smugglers sought to transfer Iranian weaponry through Oman or directly from small fishing boats along the Hadramawt’s coast into northern Yemen. With the Houthis seeking to take over the Marib oil fields, stopping the weapons flow was important. |
| Posted by:badanov |