Airstrikes Kill Seven as Tensions Escalate in Yemen’s Hadramawt Province
Mohammed Abdulmalik, a senior official of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Wadi Hadramawt and the Hadramawt Desert, said seven airstrikes targeted a camp in the Al-Khasah area. The
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – At least seven people were killed and more than 20 others wounded on Friday after a series of airstrikes hit a military camp in Yemen’s Hadramawt province, amid escalating tensions between Saudi-backed forces and UAE-supported separatists.
Mohammed Abdulmalik, a senior official of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Wadi Hadramawt and the Hadramawt Desert, said seven airstrikes targeted a camp in the Al-Khasah area. The STC is a secessionist group backed by the United Arab Emirates that has recently seized large swathes of territory in eastern Yemen.
The strikes came as Saudi-backed forces launched an operation in Hadramawt aimed at regaining control of military sites following the STC’s sweeping advance, which has raised fears of a broader confrontation between rival factions allied with Gulf powers.
Hadramawt Governor Salem Al-Khanbashi announced the operation earlier on Friday, shortly after being appointed commander of the Saudi-backed National Shield forces in the strategically important and resource-rich province bordering Saudi Arabia.
“This operation is not a declaration of war, nor an attempt to escalate tensions,” Al-Khanbashi said in a statement carried by the official Saba Net news agency. He stressed that the move does not target civilians or political and social groups, adding that it aims to “peacefully and systematically hand over military sites.”
The STC seized much of Hadramawt and neighboring Mahra province, which borders Oman, last month, further complicating Yemen’s already fragmented political and security landscape. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both key members of the coalition formed in 2015 to counter the Iran-backed Houthi movement, the two allies now support competing factions in areas controlled by the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
The Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and control much of Yemen’s most densely populated regions, remain entrenched after nearly a decade of war. Meanwhile, divisions among anti-Houthi forces continue to fuel instability, raising concerns about renewed conflict in parts of the country previously sparred by large-scale fighting.