By Micah Jonah
January 8, 2026
The Saudi led coalition in Yemen said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates helped spirit a southern separatist leader out of the country, deepening tensions between the two Gulf allies, as witnesses reported that Saudi backed forces were advancing in the port city of Aden after recent setbacks.
In a statement, the coalition said Aidarous al Zubaidi, head of the UAE backed Southern Transitional Council, left Yemen by boat for Somaliland before boarding an aircraft to Mogadishu. The flight was later tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi, according to the coalition.
The development marks a sharp escalation in strains between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both major oil producers and close allies of the United States. Zubaidi failed to attend crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday aimed at easing unrest in southern Yemen, prompting speculation about his whereabouts.
Zubaidi’s group said he had been asked to travel to Saudi Arabia under threat. The Saudi claim that the UAE assisted his departure has raised the stakes in a crisis that erupted last month, when separatist forces swept through southern Yemen and advanced toward the Saudi border, a move Riyadh described as a threat to its national security.
The fast moving events have exposed fractures within the coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which has been fighting the Iran backed Houthi movement. Longstanding differences between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over regional geopolitics and other strategic issues have come into sharper focus with the turmoil in Yemen.
After Zubaidi’s unexplained absence from the Riyadh talks, the STC said he was overseeing military and security operations in Aden. The city had served as the main seat of power for anti Houthi forces since 2015, but leaders of the Saudi backed government fled to Saudi Arabia after the separatists seized control last month.
On Thursday, witnesses and Yemeni government officials said Saudi backed forces were regaining ground in Aden and advancing in other areas as well. Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground, and the Saudi led coalition did not confirm that its forces had fully taken control of the city.
In a possible sign of divisions within the separatist movement, an STC delegation said it held productive talks in Riyadh with the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, according to comments by Mohammed Al Ghaith, a senior official in the group. Any internal split could further complicate efforts to stabilise southern Yemen.
The coalition said Zubaidi and others traveling with him were under the supervision of UAE officers during the journey. It added that the aircraft used switched off its identification system over the Gulf of Oman before turning it back on shortly before landing at Al Reef military airport in Abu Dhabi. The coalition did not clearly state whether Zubaidi was still on board at the time of arrival.
There was no immediate comment from the UAE or from Zubaidi’s Southern Transitional Council.
The UAE has pursued an increasingly assertive foreign policy across the Middle East and Africa, a strategy that has come under scrutiny amid the rare military escalation with Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Although Abu Dhabi has withdrawn most of its forces and called for de escalation, Yemen remains mired in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE first intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa the previous year. The STC was formed in 2017 with UAE backing and later joined the coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
