Yemen separatists urge US not to let Saudi Arabia ‘call the shots’

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WASHINGTON — As the Houthis continue their blitz of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, the top diplomat for the secessionist Southern Transitional Council says an independent southern state would serve as a bulwark against the Iran-backed militant group’s expansion.

“We still think that the only solution is to create a buffer zone there in the south to make sure that the Houthis are not expanding to other areas,” STC foreign affairs representative Amr al-Bidh said Wednesday in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi. 

Bidh spoke as Yemen’s stalemated civil war has reignited this month, adding to the turmoil in a region already destabilized by the US-Iran war. The renewed fighting follows the fracturing earlier this year of an anti-Houthi alliance between the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, and the STC, which advocates southern secession and has received support from the United Arab Emirates. 

The southern question 

Formed in 2017 with Emirati backing, the STC seeks to restore southern Yemen as an independent state, as it was from 1967 to 1990, arguing that it has a distinct political and social identity. The group's critics argue that a secession push could further fragment Yemen and dismiss the STC as an Emirati proxy that doesn't speak for all southerners. 

The STC was nominally part of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government known as the Presidential Leadership Council before it launched a sweeping offensive in December to capture Yemen’s oil-rich Hadhramaut and al-Mahrah provinces. The group's leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, proposed a two-year transition and internationally backed talks between southern and northern Yemeni parties, including the Houthis.

In a matter of weeks, a Yemeni government offensive backed by Saudi airstrikes reversed the STC’s sweeping territorial gains. Under pressure from the Saudi-backed PLC, the UAE withdrew its remaining forces from Yemen. The STC then declared it would formally dissolve, an announcement that Bidh and other senior STC officials dispute and say was coerced by Riyadh. After reports he fled to the UAE, Zubaidi is in an undisclosed location for security purposes, according to Bidh. 

Today, the anti-Houthi forces in Yemen’s south are fragmented. Some former STC-affiliated fighters have been folded into the Saudi-backed government’s umbrella, while others remain outside a unified command.   

Bidh argues that the Saudi-led military restructuring left southern Yemen without a unified security force, creating potential openings for both the Houthis, whose power base is in the northwest, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is active in the country's south and has clashed with the separatist fighters.

The Saudi-backed government said the STC’s territorial expansion was destabilizing to the anti-Houthi camp, whereas Bidh argues it was the Saudi counteroffensive itself that has empowered the Houthis to escalate their attacks around the Red Sea. 

“[The Houthis] had the opportunity because there was a vacuum," he said. "Without having the deterrence on the ground, it was a recipe for the Houthis to move ahead."

Red Sea stakes 

The Houthi advance has plunged war-torn Yemen into its second major crisis this year, with hundreds killed and at least 100,000 people forced to flee their homes this month, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. 

Late last week, the Houthis swept through the country’s Red Sea coastline, seizing the port city of Mokha and the volcanic island of Mayyun in the Bab el Mandeb Strait. Roughly 10% of global maritime trade passes through Bab el Mandeb, the 32-kilometer (19-mile)-wide waterway at the Arabian Peninsula’s southern tip that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. 

The Houthis, who are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance and designated a terrorist group by the United States, have controlled much of northern Yemen since expelling the internationally recognized government in 2014. They waged a nearly decade-long war against a Saudi-led Arab military coalition before a UN-backed ceasefire took effect in 2022 and the PLC was formed to unify the anti-Houthi factions. The truce, however, did not produce a lasting political settlement, with peace talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia reaching an impasse in September 2023. 

The Houthis’ offensive intensified this week, as it seized the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands in the southern Red Sea, attacked Saudi energy infrastructure and shipping, and advanced toward Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz.  

For now, analysts say the group is likely to focus on consolidating its newly captured coastal corridor. But should the Houthis push further south, Bidh said he expects the region’s disparate factions to unite in its defense.

“Some are still under the command of the Saudis, and others are not,” Bidh said. “But because of their national duty, which is defending the south, they will join forces.” 

‘Calling the shots’ 

President Donald Trump has reportedly rebuffed personal appeals from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the US military to intervene, reluctant to resume a bombing campaign that ended in May 2025. The Houthis and the United States agreed to an Oman-mediated truce after two months of US strikes on the group's military infrastructure and leadership in Yemen. 

Asked if the STC also sought US strikes against the Houthis, Bidh said, “There is no sole military solution. It’s been tried and not worked.” 

Reuters reported Wednesday that US Embassy personnel in Oman met with Houthi officials, including the group’s sanctioned spokesperson, Mohammad Abdulsalam, in Muscat on Sunday. The Houthis reportedly told US officials they did not plan to attack US vessels and remained committed to the US-Houthi ceasefire. 

Bidh said he is not currently in contact with the Trump administration but would urge it to adopt a “comprehensive approach” involving local and regional actors to establish deterrence against the Houthis, rather than "just letting the Saudis call the shots.” 

Bidh and his group are pushing for a negotiated settlement with the Houthis that would recognize the south’s right to decide its future. In January, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry announced plans for a "dialogue" conference involving Yemen's southern factions, but a date has yet to be set. 

“Trump has the convening ability to bring the region and locals together,” Bidh said. “This is where the US can have a serious impact — a step change from just seeking US military intervention.”