Yemen clashes bring Saudi and UAE-backed forces into confrontation
BBC••general
Key Points:
- Yemen faces a critical juncture as infighting between Saudi Arabia-backed government forces and UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatists escalates, threatening to divide the country.
- The STC launched a major offensive in southern Yemen on 2 December, capturing key territories including the oil-rich Hadramawt province, aiming to declare independence, which the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) condemned as rebellion.
- Recent air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeted STC positions and alleged UAE-supplied military equipment, prompting Yemen's PLC to cancel a defense treaty with the UAE and demand Emirati troop withdrawal, which the UAE later agreed to.
- The conflict deepens a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, already devastated by years of war
