Political chaos in Yemen triggers Saudi Arabia security worries
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) is considered to be supported by the UAE. Although the UAE and Saudi Arabia share many regional interests, they do not always see eye to eye on Yemen.
Since Saudi Arabia led an intervention in Yemen against the Houthis in 2015, it has preferred the status quo to remain intact, because it has worked things out with Iran and does not want more instability. The challenge for Riyadh now is that the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which controls areas of Aden and southern Yemen, has made progress on the ground.
The STC is considered to be supported by the United Arab Emirates. Although the UAE and Saudi Arabia share many regional interests, they do not always see eye to eye on Yemen.
Today, Riyadh seems increasingly angry about what is happening in Yemen. “Saudi Arabia supports the government of Yemen and urges the separatists to withdraw from the conquered provinces,” noted France 24 on December 28. Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it would support the Sanaa government in any military confrontation with separatist forces in a statement released a day after Saudi airstrikes in Yemen’s Hadramawt province. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatists have recently made territorial gains, embarrassing regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia.
Arab News in Saudi Arabia published several articles illustrating the growing concern in Riyadh.
One analysis says “concern is growing that Yemen is sliding toward de facto partition, with rival authorities consolidating control over separate regions.”
A DRONE view shows people participating in a rally organized by Yemen’s main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), in Aden, Yemen, December 21, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman)
It goes on to say that “In the south, the Southern Transitional Council has expanded its footprint, while Iranian-backed Houthi forces remain firmly entrenched in the north. These fears have intensified in recent weeks, driven by the latest STC military operation and the widening conflict in the Red Sea. Together, they raise a central question: Will Yemen’s decade-long war end in reconciliation or a fracture into smaller competing states?”
Furthermore, it said, “On December 23, Rashad Al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, the executive body of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, warned that the STC’s unilateral actions were pushing the country toward a dangerous tipping point.”
Saudi Arabia responds to tensions in Yemen
Saudi officials speak out. Arab News added that “Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called on the Southern Transitional Council (STC) to respond to Saudi-UAE mediation efforts and defuse tensions in eastern Yemen, urging the group to withdraw its forces from Hadramout and Al-Mahra camps and hand them over peacefully to local authorities.”
Prince Khalid said on “He said the Kingdom has always treated the Southern issue as a ‘just political cause’ that must be resolved through dialogue and consensus, citing the Riyadh Conference and the Riyadh Accord as frameworks ensuring the South’s participation in governance and rejecting the use of force,” Arab News added.
This comes as Riyadh also appears concerned about Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Somaliland is close to Yemen, just across the Gulf of Aden. As such, Riyadh views both the changes in Yemen on the ground and the recognition as a change in the status quo. Riyadh is conservative and prefers things not to change radically.
A third article in Arab News reflects Riyadh’s thinking on Somaliland. “Even though several countries, including the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, have maintained liaison offices in the capital Hargeisa, none have wanted to cross the Rubicon of formal state recognition. »
The report adds that “it is perhaps not surprising to seasoned regional observers that Israel has become the first and only UN member state to formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign nation.”
The report goes on to say that “Israel’s decision to disrupt this decades-old international consensus is a deliberate break with the status quo. By taking this step, Israel has positioned itself as the primary benefactor of a state that has long sought a seat at the international table. As Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama, Djibouti’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told Arab News, such a move is deeply disruptive.”
