The battle for who controls an oil-rich territory in southern Yemen escalated on Friday after the Yemeni government said it was sending in the armed forces to oust a rival faction there.
The faction, a separatist group, has seized control of parts of Yemen from the government in recent weeks and wants to create its own independent state. On Friday, an armed group allied with the separatists said in a statement that they were now at “war” with the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
The government of Yemen is backed by Saudi Arabia, while the separatist group, known as the Southern Transitional Council, has received support from the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier in the day, the governor of Hadhramaut, a resource-rich province that the separatists have partly seized, said the military would wrest back control of the territory.
On Friday, a statement from the Southern Armed Forces, allies of the separatist faction, said the battle was being conducted “under Saudi air cover,” meaning the Saudis were supporting the government militarily. The allies described the separatist group’s fight as “existential” against the government, which it labeled linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda.
The Saudi government and the military coalition it leads in Yemen did not immediately respond to questions about their involvement in Friday’s military operations in Hadhramaut.
For weeks, the Saudi government has urged the Southern Transitional Council to withdraw its forces. On Tuesday, the Saudis directly entered the fray in southern Yemen, when a Saudi-led airstrike targeted a shipment coming into Yemen from the United Arab Emirates.
The Saudi government said that the shipment contained weapons for the separatists. The Emirati government denied that, but said after the strike that it was withdrawing its remaining forces from Yemen.
The Emirates did not comment on the military operation announced on Friday. It is the latest attempt by the Yemeni government to reassert its authority since the south fractured into internal rivalries.
“This operation is not a declaration of war,” the provincial governor, Salem al-Khanbashi, said in a televised address early Friday. He sought to frame the move as “peaceful,” saying the goal was to “neutralize” heavy weaponry in the province and to prevent the situation from sliding into “chaos.”
The events of recent weeks have driven a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, two powerful Gulf allies. They once joined forces in Yemen in an ill-fated attempt to oust Houthi rebels that had taken control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 with Iranian support.
That partnership has frayed as the two powers have backed competing factions with divergent visions of Yemen’s future.
Saeed Al-Batati contributed reporting from Al Mukalla, Yemen.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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