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Saudi-backed Yemeni forces secure Mukalla after clashes with separatist STC

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces secure Mukalla after clashes with separatist STC
By Faisal Ali, Alma Milisic and Yasmeen Aboujabal
Published On 7 Jan 2026

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7 Jan 2026 - 14:30
 (14:30 GMT)

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To learn more about Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) head at the centre of today’s developments, read this piece.

Here is a wrap-up of the day’s events, including air strikes launched by a Saudi-led coalition against the backdrop of talks that al-Zubaidi was meant to attend in Riyadh.

7 Jan 2026 - 14:15
 (14:15 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

This live page will close soon. Here’s a look at the day’s main developments:

  • Saudi Arabia has carried out about 15 air strikes on Al-Dale in southern Yemen after reports that troops loyal to Southern Transitional Council (STC) leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi were apparently moving to take over the port city of Aden.
  • Hospital sources quoted by the AFP news agency say there have been a number of casualties after the air strikes.
  • Al-Zubaidi has been dismissed from the Presidential Leadership Council, a coalition of groups that together form Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and he has been referred to the attorney general for “high treason”.
  • The STC says al-Zubaidi is in Aden and “continues his duties”. Earlier, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said al-Zubaidi’s whereabouts were unknown.
  • The STC says it has been unable to communicate with a delegation it sent to Saudi Arabia for talks.
  • The UAE-backed Giants Brigades militia has taken control of strategic locations in Aden after the withdrawal of STC forces from checkpoints in the city.
7 Jan 2026 - 14:00
 (14:00 GMT)

WATCH: Yemen’s STC leader al-Zubaidi saw Riyadh trip as ‘political suicide’

7 Jan 2026 - 13:45
 (13:45 GMT)

PLC vice president calls al-Zubaidi’s removal a step towards restoring state legitimacy

Presidential Leadership Council Vice President Abdullah al-Alimi has commented on today’s events, which saw STC leader al-Zubaidi expelled from Yemen’s government and referred to the attorney general on treason charges.

“This does not mean the victory of one party over another, and there is no room for gloating or portraying what happened as a defeat for this one or a gain for that one,” al-Alimi said in a post on X.

Al-Alimi described the ouster of al-Zubaidi as the “restoration of the state, its institutions, its legitimacy and its framework” while welcoming the Saudi intervention against the STC, which is backed by the UAE.

7 Jan 2026 - 13:30
 (13:30 GMT)
Opinion

The Yemeni crisis: More complexity and many repercussions

By AbdulHakim Helal

Events in Yemen are escalating quickly and dramatically, reaching the point of armed clashes erupting between the Arab coalition supporting the internationally recognised government in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, and the STC, backed by the UAE.

Many view these developments as a natural outcome of a long, cumulative trajectory of complexities the country has experienced since the civil war erupted in late 2014, and the humanitarian and economic repercussions that followed.

Read more of this opinion piece here.

7 Jan 2026 - 13:15
 (13:15 GMT)

STC official says al-Zubaidi remains in Aden and won’t abandon his people

Amr al-Bidh, a senior STC official, has said al-Zubaidi remains in Aden and “will not abandon his people”.

In a post on X, al-Bidh said al-Zubaidi is working to ensure the city’s “security and stability” and will “engage directly when conditions allow”.

“His people need him there,” he said.

7 Jan 2026 - 13:00
 (13:00 GMT)

WATCH: What is behind the Saudi-UAE rupture in Yemen?

7 Jan 2026 - 12:45
 (12:45 GMT)

Yemen now focusing on ‘political dialogue rather than use of force’

Motieb Ba Ziyad, deputy office manager of the prime minister of Yemen, has said that al-Zubaidi’s position as head of the STC is “an internal matter for the STC itself”.

“The STC leadership must determine its position regarding him in view of those decisions,” Ba Ziyad told Al Jazeera.

“A delegation from the STC leadership arrived yesterday from Aden and we assigned them greater roles in any future political arrangements.

“This is because the southern issue, including the southern and eastern governorates, remains a central matter. It will be addressed through the south–south dialogue called for by the president, which will be hosted in Saudi Arabia, and preparations for this dialogue are currently under way.

“For this reason, we are now focusing on political dialogue rather than the use of force or the imposition of political projects by force,” Ba Ziyad said.

7 Jan 2026 - 12:30
 (12:30 GMT)
Analysis

STC leader avoided Riyadh talks over fears of detention, adviser says

Matthew Bryza, an adviser to Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, has told Al Jazeera that the group’s head al-Zubaidi avoided attending talks in Riyadh because he feared being detained.

Bryza said he spoke to senior officials of the STC, a separatist group that controls southern Yemen, which confirmed al-Zubaidi’s concerns.

“I am an adviser. I was supposed to be there,” Bryza said, explaining he also stayed away after uncertainty over al-Zubaidi’s attendance and rising tensions made meaningful negotiations unlikely.

Bryza said the UK and US are working to de-escalate the crisis following Saudi air strikes on al-Zubaidi’s hometown of Al-Dale and his dismissal from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, a coalition which collectively leads the country, earlier today.

“The key to de-escalate now will have to be to have a real negotiation in a neutral venue,” he said, adding that the reported detention of STC members in Riyadh has further undermined prospects for substantive talks.

7 Jan 2026 - 12:15
 (12:15 GMT)

STC ‘remains a partner in the Yemeni government’

Motieb Ba Ziyad, deputy office manager of the prime minister of Yemen, has told Al Jazeera that the STC “remains a partner in the Yemeni government to this day”, as it holds two positions within the Presidential Leadership Council.

“The STC attended today’s meeting of the leadership council, and the decision [to dismiss al-Zubaidi] was made in its presence,” Ba Ziyad said.

“I believe that the future of al-Zubaidi is linked to the measures taken through national consensus regarding rebellion – namely rejecting rebellion and unifying the Yemeni armed forces in their entirety, across all branches, under the leadership of the president, the supreme commander of the armed forces.

“This position has been affirmed by all leaders of the National Defence Council, the Arab Coalition and through coordination with brotherly and partner countries.”

7 Jan 2026 - 12:00
 (12:00 GMT)
Developing

Al-Zubaidi in safe location, says STC official

While the exact whereabouts of al-Zubaidi remain unknown, an STC official told Reuters news agency that the group’s head is in a “safe location” in Aden.

The STC earlier claimed it had lost contact with the delegation it sent to Riyadh for talks that al-Zubaidi was also scheduled to attend.

7 Jan 2026 - 11:45
 (11:45 GMT)

Yemen talks to start in Riyadh, says official

Mohammed al-Ghaithi, chairman of the Consultation and Reconciliation Authority, has said he has arrived in Riyadh with other colleagues from Aden “in a positive atmosphere”.

“We will begin a series of meetings to prepare for a south-south dialogue under the auspices of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he wrote on his X account.

7 Jan 2026 - 11:30
 (11:30 GMT)

Latest developments reveal ‘division within the STC’

Badr al-Rabiyan, our correspondent in Riyadh, says the latest developments in Yemen have revealed division within the STC.

He added that the PLC meeting, where STC head al-Zubaidi was dismissed from the government, was in fact attended by Abdul Rahman al-Mahrami, a prominent STC member.

He added that al-Mahrami also deployed forces to prevent security chaos in Aden, in coordination with the UN-recognised Yemeni government.

7 Jan 2026 - 11:15
 (11:15 GMT)

Who is Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the STC head?

For years, al-Zubaidi has been the undisputed strongman of southern Yemen.

He is a former air force officer who transitioned from a rebel leader to a statesman courted by Western diplomats.

This morning, his political trajectory took a drastic turn. In a decree that has shaken the country’s fragile power-sharing arrangement, the PLC chairman removed al-Zubaidi from his post as council member, stripping him of his immunity and referring him to the public prosecutor on charges of “high treason”.

Simultaneously, the Saudi-led coalition announced that al-Zubaidi had “fled to an unknown destination” after failing to answer a summons to Riyadh – a claim the STC vehemently denies, insisting their leader remains in Aden.

So, who is the man at the centre of these rapid developments in Yemen?

Read more here. 

Aidarous al-Zubaidi [Ted Shaffrey/AP]
7 Jan 2026 - 11:00
 (11:00 GMT)

STC head al-Zubaidi to be treated as a ‘rebel’: Yemeni presidency adviser

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Thabet al-Ahmadi, adviser to the Yemeni presidency, said the government made a “final decision” to remove STC head al-Zubaidi from the leadership council and treat him as a “rebel”.

“The state made its decision and it will be implemented in the coming hours,” al-Ahmadi said, adding that there is not a “grain of hope” of any type of future political engagement by al-Zubaidi.

He added that an invitation was made to the remaining members of the STC to politically engage, reaffirming that their rights “will not be violated in any way”.

“The STC will be dealt with as a civilian political component.”

7 Jan 2026 - 10:45
 (10:45 GMT)

WATCH: Saudi Arabia managed to ‘pull a rug’ from underneath STC leader

Hisham al-Omeisy, a conflict analyst focused on Yemen, spoke to Al Jazeera about the implications of STC leader al-Zubaidi’s dismissal from the Presidential Leadership Council, Yemen’s governing body.

The move exposes a fracture in the anti-Houthi coalition that the PLC was meant to coordinate through collective leadership between the official government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, and the STC, a UAE-backed separatist group that sits on the PLC, along with other groups.

Watch his comments below:

7 Jan 2026 - 10:30
 (10:30 GMT)
Developing

Giants Brigades forces ‘take control of’ key locations in Aden

Our correspondent in Aden is reporting that the Giants Brigades have taken control of strategic locations in the city after forces affiliated with the STC withdrew from several checkpoints.

7 Jan 2026 - 10:15
 (10:15 GMT)

We no longer rely on any political action by al-Zubaidi: Yemeni adviser

Thabet al-Ahmadi, an adviser of the Yemeni presidency office, had told Al Jazeera that “the nature of [al-Zubaidi’s] mindset is based on the agenda of another regional player”.

“This was probably the final move from him and surely shuts everything now,” he said.

“We no longer rely on any political action in the next hours by al-Zubaidi.”

As we reported earlier, the leader of Yemen’s STC has been removed from government for “committing high treason” after the Saudi-led coalition said he failed to board a plane for Riyadh last night to take part in talks.

7 Jan 2026 - 10:00
 (10:00 GMT)

Photos: Police patrol the streets of Aden

[Fawaz Salman/Reuters]
[Fawaz Salman/Reuters]
[Fawaz Salman/Reuters]
[Fawaz Salman/Reuters]

7 Jan 2026 - 09:45
 (09:45 GMT)

WATCH: The groups controlling territory in Yemen