Leader of UAE-backed Yemen separatists 'flees' and is accused of treason

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) has dismissed Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the UAE backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), accusing him of high treason amid mounting instability in the country’s south.

Zubaidi was due to travel to Riyadh for talks on Tuesday, but according to a Saudi official has "fled" to an unknown location.

In a decree issued on Wednesday, PLC Chairman Rashad al-Alimi said the body had voted to strip Zubaidi of his membership and refer him to the prosecutor general.

The decree said he was removed "for committing high treason" and prosecutors would open a formal investigation.

The accusations levelled against Zubaidi include damaging Yemen’s political and military standing, forming an armed group, committing serious violations against civilians, killing officers and soldiers, and sabotaging military facilities.

Zubaidi leads the STC, a UAE-backed separatist movement that controls large parts of southern Yemen, including Aden, which is ostensibly the seat of the PLC government.

The Presidential Leadership Council, a coalition of Yemeni factions, serves as Yemen’s internationally recognised governing authority.

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In a statement, the STC rejected claims that its leader had disappeared, saying Zubaidi was in Aden and “continues his duties”, following speculation about his whereabouts.

He had been expected to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks on Yemen’s future with the country’s president.

Saudi Arabia’s coalition spokesman, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said coalition leaders instructed Zubaidi on Sunday, to travel to the kingdom within 48 hours to discuss escalating violence and attacks by STC forces in Hadhramaut and al-Mahra.

Together, al-Mahra and Hadhramaut provinces account for nearly half of Yemen’s territory and share borders with Saudi Arabia.

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On 16 December, following weeks of escalating tensions in Yemen's eastern regions, STC claimed control over Hadhramaut and al-Mahra governorates as Saudi-backed forces withdrew from their military bases in Aden. 

Maliki said Zubaidi informed Saudi officials he would arrive on Tuesday, but when a Yemenia Airways flight eventually departed after a delay of more than three hours, it carried senior STC figures without him.

He said Zubaidi fled to an unknown location, leaving his colleagues without information.

During the same session, the PLC dismissed Transport Minister Abdul Salam Hamid and Planning and International Cooperation Minister Waad Badhib, referring both for investigation.

It also ordered the arrest of individuals accused of distributing weapons and threatening civil peace, vowing firm action to uphold the rule of law and protect public freedoms.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Houthi movement since 2015 carried out air strikes on STC targets on Wednesday in the southern governorate of Dhale.

More than 15 strikes hit the area, with AFP quoting hospital sources as reporting several casualties.

The STC condemned the bombardment: “While the Southern Transitional Council condemns these unjustified air strikes, it demands that the Saudi authorities immediately cease the aerial bombardment.”