Saturday, December 27, 2025

Yemen official says around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters amass near border

A Yemeni military official from the internationally recognised government told AFP Friday that around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters had amassed in strategic areas bordering Saudi Arabia since separatists seized swathes of territory last month -- but they were not ordered to advance.

All the areas where they were deployed are located at the edges of territory seized in recent weeks by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council separatist group.

“We have not received military instructions to move towards the two provinces,” the official stated, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Yemeni separatists have announced that they would not be deterred by strikes on their positions that they blamed on Saudi Arabia, but that they were nonetheless open to working with Riyadh.

“The Council affirms that such actions will not serve any path of understanding and will not deter the people of the South from continuing to move forward toward restoring their full rights,” the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) said.

Still, the group “affirms its openness to any coordination or arrangements based on guaranteeing the protection of the security, unity and integrity of the South and ensuring that security threats do not return, in a way that meets the aspirations and will of our Southern people and the common interests with our brothers in the kingdom,” they added, referring to Saudi Arabia.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has called on a Saudi-led coalition to take military measures to support its forces in the country’s largest province Hadramawt, hours after strikes that Yemen separatists announced hit their positions there.

Yemeni news agency Saba reported after a national defence council meeting in Riyadh that the Yemeni government asked the coalition to “take all necessary military measures to protect innocent Yemeni civilians in Hadramawt province and support the armed forces” in imposing a de-escalation after separatists seized most of the province.

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