The United Arab Emirates welcomes Saudi Arabian efforts to support security and stability in Yemen and remains committed to backing stability in the country, the UAE’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
Yemen's main southern separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is supported by Abu Dhabi, has pushed the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government from its headquarters in Aden while claiming broad control across the south earlier this month.
"The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavours aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it remains hopeful that STC will end an escalation and withdraw its forces from the eastern provinces of Hadramout and Mahra.
The STC was initially part of a Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthis. But the group has turned on the government and sought self-rule in the south.
Yemen has already been marred by a civil war since 2014, with the Houthis controlling the northern part of the country, including the capital Sanaa after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.
Separatists in southern Yemen, meanwhile, accused Saudi Arabia on Friday of targeting their forces with air strikes, something not immediately acknowledged by the kingdom after it warned the force to withdraw from governorates it recently took over.
The STC said the strikes happened in Yemen’s Hadramout governorate. It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any injuries from the strikes.
The Council’s satellite channel AIC aired what appeared to be mobile phone footage it described as showing the strikes. In one video, a man speaking could be heard blaming the strike on Saudi aircraft.
