"A separatist group in southern Yemen that this month seized two oil-rich provinces has claimed that Saudi Arabia fired warning airstrikes directed at its forces. Videos issued on Friday by media linked to the United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) showed airstrikes that it said were close to its positions in Wadi Nahab, Hadramaut province. The strikes which were not independently confirmed would be the first military step by Saudi Arabia"
"Amr al-Bidh, a foreign affairs special representative for the STC, said in a statement to the Associated Press that airstrikes came after its fighters in eastern Hadramaut were involved in ambushes that left two dead. Officials in Saudi Arabia have not so far commented. Two weeks ago, the STC a longstanding voice calling for Yemen to return to the pre-1990 settlement of a Yemen divided into north and south entered the two large, oil-rich provinces in the south not yet under its control."
STC forces seized Hadramaut and al-Mahra in southern Yemen with little resistance as local Hadramaut forces withdrew. The STC released videos claiming Saudi warning airstrikes near Wadi Nahab, which were not independently confirmed. STC officials said the strikes followed ambushes in eastern Hadramaut that left two dead. Saudi officials have not commented. Saudi-backed, UN-recognised southern government elements are mounting a political and diplomatic counteroffensive against STC unilateral control. European and Gulf states and the Arab League urged Yemen remain unified, while concerns persist that southern fractures could distract from efforts to oust the Houthis.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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