The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen alleged on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates helped southern separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi leave the country by boat and plane, a claim that could deepen strains between the two Gulf partners as Saudi-backed forces moved to regain control in Aden.
The coalition said al-Zubaidi, who heads the Southern Transitional Council (STC), departed Yemen for Somaliland, then boarded a flight to Mogadishu that was later tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi. His whereabouts were not independently confirmed, and the coalition did not explicitly state whether he remained on board to the UAE capital.
Somalia said it had opened an investigation to determine whether its airports were used to transport what it described as a “political fugitive,” warning that such use—if proven—would be a serious violation of Somali sovereignty.
Al-Zubaidi failed to appear in Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday amid escalating tensions after STC forces swept through parts of southern Yemen last month, including Aden, advancing toward areas near the Saudi border. Riyadh has cast the separatist push as a national security threat and has pressed the UAE to rein in the group, the coalition said.
In Aden on Thursday, a Reuters witness reported calm conditions, with Saudi-backed government forces patrolling and no visible STC presence. Authorities imposed a nighttime curfew. The coalition said Saudi-backed forces have also been retaking ground elsewhere in recent days.
In a possible sign of internal strains among the separatists, an STC delegation said it held “fruitful” discussions in Riyadh with Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, according to remarks by a senior STC official.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE previously operated together in a coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, but their relationship has been marked by sharp differences across the region. There was no immediate public comment from the UAE or the STC on the coalition’s account.