Southern separatists in Yemen said Saturday they had seized the presidential palace in the second city Aden after fierce battles with loyalist forces, prompting the government to decry what it called a UAE-backed "coup".
The deadly clashes reflect deep divisions between secessionists and loyalist forces, both of whom have fought Shiite Huthi rebels.
Yemeni President Abderabbo Mansour Hadi, based in Saudi Arabia, is backed by a Riyadh-led coalition battling the Huthis who hail from Yemen's north.
But another force in the anti-Huthi coalition, trained by Riyadh ally the United Arab Emirates, has since Wednesday been battling loyalists in Aden, the temporary base of Hadi's government.
The UAE-backed Security Belt Force is dominated by fighters who back the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks to restore south Yemen as an independent state as it was from 1967-1990.
A Security Belt official late Saturday told AFP the force had seized the presidential palace -- largely symbolic, due to Hadi's absence -- without a fight.
"Two hundred soldiers from the Presidential Guard were given safe passage out of the palace," the official said.
An eyewitness confirmed the complex had been handed over.
The Yemeni government late on Saturday blamed the STC and the United Arab Emirates.
"The Republic of Yemen holds the (southern) Transitional Council and the United Arab Emirates responsible for the coup against the legitimate government in Aden," Yemen's foreign ministry said on Twitter.
In a statement, it demanded "that the UAE halt its material support and withdraw its military support, immediately and fully, from the groups that have rebelled against the state."
The Saudi-led coalition called for an "immediate ceasefire" and threatened "military force against anyone who violates this," a coalition spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Riyadh demanded an "urgent meeting" between the warring parties "to discuss their differences, to give a chance to wisdom and dialogue, to renounce divisions, to end strife and unite."
Earlier on Saturday, the Security Belt overran three military barracks in Aden and seized weaponry.
- 'War within a war' -
The STC's spokesman said Saturday the situation was "stable" and that the council was working to restore the water network, damaged in the fighting.
But the International Crisis Group think tank warned that the latest clashes "threaten to tip southern Yemen into a civil war within a civil war."
"Such a conflict would deepen what is already the world's worst humanitarian crisis and make a national political settlement harder to achieve," it said.
Ties between the Security Belt and Hadi loyalists have been strained for years, and this week was not the first time they have engaged in armed clashes.
In January 2018, they fought three days of battles that killed 38 people and wounded 222 others after the government prevented a rally by separatists.
The Security Belt has accused Hadi's backers of allowing Islamists into their ranks and of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
"In the past, half-measures helped de-escalate simmering tensions in the south," Crisis Group said.
But "today's circumstances require robust diplomatic intervention from the UN, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to avoid the worst and help forge a durable solution."
International Committee of the Red Cross Yemen Chief Franz Rauchenstein tweeted that all sides should spare "civilians and residential areas from confrontations".
The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to back the government against the Huthis, who are supported by Riyadh's regional rival Iran.
The Huthis had overrun large parts of northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, which they still control.
On Thursday, Hadi's government urged Saudi Arabia and the UAE to put pressure on the Security Belt to avoid a military escalation in Aden.
Yemen's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Al-Hadhrami tweeted Saturday that actions by the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Aden were "a coup against the legitimate institutions of the state".
"It was those institutions that the (Saudi-led) coalition came to restore and support after the Huthi coup in 2014," he wrote.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan called for "de-escalation" in Aden, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
He said the UAE was "exerting all efforts to calm and de-escalate the situation", adding that the two camps should focus their efforts on fighting the Huthis instead of each other.
- 'Attacks on civilians' -
The latest upsurge in fighting flared on Wednesday during the funeral of a senior Security Belt commander killed earlier this month in a drone and missile attack on a training camp west of Aden.
The commander was among 36 people killed -- many of them newly graduated cadets -- in the aerial attack, claimed by the Huthis.
The UN human rights office later accused the Security Belt force of "reportedly carrying out and enabling retaliatory attacks against civilians" from northern Yemen.
The fighting has left at least 18 dead and scores wounded, medics and security sources have said.
On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) tweeted that it had treated 75 people in one of its hospitals in Aden since Thursday night.
Since 2015, fighting between the Huthis and Yemeni loyalists backed by the Saudi-led coalition has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, aid agencies say.
The conflict has also forced some 3.3 million people from their homes, according to the UN.
It says over 24 million people, some 80 percent of the population, need humanitarian aid.
Southern separatists in Yemen said Saturday they had seized the presidential palace in the second city Aden after fierce battles with loyalist forces, prompting the government to decry what it called a UAE-backed “coup”.
The deadly clashes reflect deep divisions between secessionists and loyalist forces, both of whom have fought Shiite Huthi rebels.
Yemeni President Abderabbo Mansour Hadi, based in Saudi Arabia, is backed by a Riyadh-led coalition battling the Huthis who hail from Yemen’s north.
But another force in the anti-Huthi coalition, trained by Riyadh ally the United Arab Emirates, has since Wednesday been battling loyalists in Aden, the temporary base of Hadi’s government.
The UAE-backed Security Belt Force is dominated by fighters who back the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks to restore south Yemen as an independent state as it was from 1967-1990.
A Security Belt official late Saturday told AFP the force had seized the presidential palace — largely symbolic, due to Hadi’s absence — without a fight.
“Two hundred soldiers from the Presidential Guard were given safe passage out of the palace,” the official said.
An eyewitness confirmed the complex had been handed over.
The Yemeni government late on Saturday blamed the STC and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Republic of Yemen holds the (southern) Transitional Council and the United Arab Emirates responsible for the coup against the legitimate government in Aden,” Yemen’s foreign ministry said on Twitter.
In a statement, it demanded “that the UAE halt its material support and withdraw its military support, immediately and fully, from the groups that have rebelled against the state.”
The Saudi-led coalition called for an “immediate ceasefire” and threatened “military force against anyone who violates this,” a coalition spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Riyadh demanded an “urgent meeting” between the warring parties “to discuss their differences, to give a chance to wisdom and dialogue, to renounce divisions, to end strife and unite.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Security Belt overran three military barracks in Aden and seized weaponry.
– ‘War within a war’ –
The STC’s spokesman said Saturday the situation was “stable” and that the council was working to restore the water network, damaged in the fighting.
But the International Crisis Group think tank warned that the latest clashes “threaten to tip southern Yemen into a civil war within a civil war.”
“Such a conflict would deepen what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and make a national political settlement harder to achieve,” it said.
Ties between the Security Belt and Hadi loyalists have been strained for years, and this week was not the first time they have engaged in armed clashes.
In January 2018, they fought three days of battles that killed 38 people and wounded 222 others after the government prevented a rally by separatists.
The Security Belt has accused Hadi’s backers of allowing Islamists into their ranks and of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
“In the past, half-measures helped de-escalate simmering tensions in the south,” Crisis Group said.
But “today’s circumstances require robust diplomatic intervention from the UN, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to avoid the worst and help forge a durable solution.”
International Committee of the Red Cross Yemen Chief Franz Rauchenstein tweeted that all sides should spare “civilians and residential areas from confrontations”.
The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to back the government against the Huthis, who are supported by Riyadh’s regional rival Iran.
The Huthis had overrun large parts of northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, which they still control.
On Thursday, Hadi’s government urged Saudi Arabia and the UAE to put pressure on the Security Belt to avoid a military escalation in Aden.
Yemen’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Al-Hadhrami tweeted Saturday that actions by the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Aden were “a coup against the legitimate institutions of the state”.
“It was those institutions that the (Saudi-led) coalition came to restore and support after the Huthi coup in 2014,” he wrote.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan called for “de-escalation” in Aden, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
He said the UAE was “exerting all efforts to calm and de-escalate the situation”, adding that the two camps should focus their efforts on fighting the Huthis instead of each other.
– ‘Attacks on civilians’ –
The latest upsurge in fighting flared on Wednesday during the funeral of a senior Security Belt commander killed earlier this month in a drone and missile attack on a training camp west of Aden.
The commander was among 36 people killed — many of them newly graduated cadets — in the aerial attack, claimed by the Huthis.
The UN human rights office later accused the Security Belt force of “reportedly carrying out and enabling retaliatory attacks against civilians” from northern Yemen.
The fighting has left at least 18 dead and scores wounded, medics and security sources have said.
On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) tweeted that it had treated 75 people in one of its hospitals in Aden since Thursday night.
Since 2015, fighting between the Huthis and Yemeni loyalists backed by the Saudi-led coalition has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, aid agencies say.
The conflict has also forced some 3.3 million people from their homes, according to the UN.
It says over 24 million people, some 80 percent of the population, need humanitarian aid.
