Saudi-led coalition says STC’s al-Zubaidi fled to UAE through Somaliland | Information

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Secessionist chief took a ship to Berbera after which boarded a airplane that flew to Abu Dhabi through Mogadishu, coalition says.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has introduced that the chief of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates through Somaliland after skipping deliberate peace talks in Riyadh.

In a press release on Thursday, the coalition mentioned Aidarous al-Zubaidi “escaped at nighttime” on Wednesday on board a vessel that departed Aden in Yemen for the port of Berbera in Somaliland.

Al-Zubaidi then boarded a airplane together with UAE officers and flew to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. “The airplane turned off its identification techniques over the Gulf of Oman, then turned it again on 10 minutes previous to arrival at Al Reef navy airport in Abu Dhabi,” the assertion mentioned.

There was no speedy remark from the STC or the UAE.

If confirmed, the transfer may deepen the feud between Saudi Arabia and the UAE that got here to mild after the Abu Dhabi-backed STC launched an offensive in opposition to the Riyadh-backed Yemeni authorities troops in December.

The STC – which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised authorities in opposition to the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen – is in search of an unbiased state in southern Yemen. It seized the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra, which border Saudi Arabia, in a marketing campaign that Riyadh described as a purple line for its nationwide safety.

The Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on the Yemeni port of Mukalla on December 30, concentrating on what it referred to as a UAE-linked weapons cargo, and backed a name by Yemen’s internationally recognised authorities for Emirati forces to withdraw from the nation.

For its half, Abu Dhabi denied that the cargo contained weapons and expressed a dedication to make sure Riyadh’s safety. On the identical day, it introduced an finish to what it referred to as its “counterterrorism mission” in Yemen.

Yemeni authorities troops, backed by Saudi Arabian air assaults, went on to reclaim Hadramout and Mahra, and the STC mentioned on Saturday that it might attend peace talks hosted by Saudi Arabia.

However the coalition mentioned al-Zubaidi was not on board the Yemeni Air flight that took the STC delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday.

It launched strikes on al-Zubaidi’s forces in Yemen’s Dhale governorate, whereas Yemeni authorities’s floor forces moved on the STC managed Aden and seized the presidential palace within the metropolis.

The pinnacle of the internationally recognised authorities’s Presidential Management Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has in the meantime introduced that al-Zubaidi has been faraway from the council for “committing excessive treason”.

Al-Alimi mentioned he has requested the nation’s lawyer common to launch an investigation in opposition to al-Zubaidi and take authorized motion.