Like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, the state of South Yemen appears to be returning to the Arab world. Southern secessionists have taken control of the south’s major port city and former capital, Aden, and seem posed to restore the southern republic that went out of business in 1990 with the collapse of its mentor, the Soviet Union. Today it has found a new mentor in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

There are now two rebellions against the internationally recognized government of Yemen led by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, one by the Houthis in the north and a second in the south. Washington needs to develop a new strategy for the civil war in Yemen and the humanitarian disaster there that threatens millions with famine and disease.

This week, southern secessionists led by the Southern Transitional Council took power in Aden after violent street battles with forces loyal to Hadi. Casualties are high. Hadi’s prime minister and a few followers are holding out in the presidential palace, surrounded by the rebels.

Tensions between the Hadi loyalists and southern secessionists have been building for three years, since Hadi was evicted from Sanaa and northern Yemen by the Houthis and established his alternative capital in Aden with the armed assistance of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the other members of the pro-Hadi coalition, which also has American backing. Hadi is a southerner but has never been popular in the south. He has spent almost all of the last three years in Riyadh since Aden became too dangerous for him. The Southern Transitional Council formed last year and demanded Hadi transfer authority to it in January.