SANAA, Yemen — While Yemen’s southern city of Aden had been witnessing relative calm after separatists took control of the city in August, that changed after the Riyadh Agreement was signed Nov. 5 between the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) as a new wave of killings engulfed the city.
The killings intensified in early December, not long after Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed returned from Riyadh to Aden on Nov. 18, under the terms of the Riyadh Agreement, and STC President Aidarous al-Zubaidi arrived in Aden on Nov. 29.