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The Southern Transitional Council (STC), a UAE-backed separatist group in southern Yemen, took control of the city of Seiyun, one of the largest cities in the Hadhramaut region marking an escalation in tensions between groups backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia. A senior military commander for the STC recently accused the Saudi-backed Hadhramaut Tribal Alliance of advancing “foreign agendas” and undermining the independence of southern Yemen. Shaykh Amr bin Habrish, leader of the tribal alliance, rejected the STC’s efforts and accused it of destabilizing southern Yemen. Much of southern and eastern Yemen has been under the control of a patchwork collection of armed militias including the STC, tribal alliance, and others aligned with the internationally recognized government based in port-city of Aden. In January, the Saudi-backed tribal alliance seized control of oil fields in the country’s interior cutting-off supplies to the government in Aden while demanding a greater share of the country’s limited oil wealth. The STC’s recent military campaign, named Promising Future, brought much of the country’s oil production under their control. The STC justified its actions claiming that its move will clamp down on oil smuggling operations that benefit the Houthis and other Islamist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. They also accused rival militias of being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and colluding with extremist groups. The UAE, which supplies the STC with weapons (and likely intelligence), has backed several armed militias throughout the region since the Arab Spring and has been a vocal opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s precise motives in Yemen are opaque but this latest escalation has sparked fears that the civil war could possibly reignite.
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