Yemen has been mired in a multifaceted civil war for years. In the north, where most of the country’s population lives, the Iran-backed Houthi militias are in charge. In the south, different armed groups and the internationally recognized government hold sway in different areas.
This week, a separatist armed group in the south that is backed by the United Arab Emirates seized control of most of Hadramout, a vast resource-rich province in eastern Yemen that borders Saudi Arabia in the north and stretches to the Arabian Sea in the south.
Officials from the group, called the Southern Transitional Council, or S.T.C., have framed the advance as a necessary step to “restore security.” But the military offensive was a significant escalation of its push to create an independent country and could reignite a civil war that has settled into a stalemate.
Here is what to know about the latest conflict.
Who is involved?
The conflict in Yemen is a multiparty entanglement that has fragmented the country. Some of the actors include:
The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia that controls Yemen’s north. In 2014, they stormed the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government to flee to southern Yemen.
The internationally recognized government based in Aden. It is nominally the official authority in southern Yemen, but its power is limited. It is controlled by an eight-person Presidential Leadership Council, with members who have differing loyalties and goals.
The S.T.C., the most powerful faction in southern Yemen. It was created in 2017 with support from the Emirates, and its stated goal is the restoration of an independent state in southern Yemen. An independent state called the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen existed there from 1967 to 1990, when it merged with the Yemen Arab Republic in the north of the country.
The Hadramout Tribal Alliance, a group of local tribes. This group has been calling for greater autonomy and a bigger share of oil revenue for the people of Hadramout. It is led by Amr bin Habresh, but the S.T.C. said it had defeated his forces on Thursday. Mr. Habresh could not be reached for comment.
What’s behind the sudden escalation?
In recent years, Hadramout has been controlled by a patchwork of armed groups, including the S.T.C. and government-aligned troops known as the First Military Region.
In January, tribal fighters with ties to Saudi Arabia took control of oil fields in the interior of the province and cut off supplies to the government. They demanded a greater share of Yemen’s oil wealth, as well as improved services for residents.
The shutdown triggered widespread blackouts this week, and the S.T.C. saw this moment as an opportunity to expand its influence. Amr Bidh, a senior official, said the group moved in to secure the region’s energy supplies and shut down smuggling routes. It also swept into a valley that is home to some of the oil fields and production, confronting the tribal forces who had cut off oil supply and government-aligned troops.
By Thursday, they had moved east to the province of Al-Mahra.
What does this mean for Yemen?
Yemen’s relatively stable political arrangement has been shattered.
An official at a border crossing in Al-Mahra said that security forces there received orders from senior commanders to replace the flag of unified Yemen with the flag of the formerly independent South Yemen. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
What comes next is unclear. In an online press briefing on Thursday, Amr Bidh, a senior S.T.C. official, said that the group was consulting with Yemeni and international partners on whether to pursue a coordinated ground operation against the Houthis.
If that happened, it would essentially reignite Yemen’s civil war.
“The Houthis are probably alarmed right now because there’s finally a force in the south under one command,” said Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow focused on Yemen at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
What do the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia have to do with this?
The takeover of most of Hadramout vividly exposed the divergent goals of two Gulf powers: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The countries are allies that once joined forces to try to oust the Houthi military in Yemen. More recently, their foreign policies have diverged.
The events this week could portend a significant erosion of Saudi influence in Hadramout, in favor of the Emirates.
The province of Hadramout has long had deep ties to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with which it shares a border. The kingdom generally supports the internationally recognized government and the concept of a unified Yemeni state. But its main interest is bolstering its own security and protecting its porous border with Yemen.
The Emirati government’s priorities in Yemen are opaque. Emirati officials typically say that they support the aspirations of the Yemeni people, whether that means one or two states. But some analysts believe Emirati leaders are trying to build a crescent of influence along Yemen’s southern coast. That would allow them to control maritime trade routes by securing strategic ports and islands.
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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