Another Punch in Face of Saudi Arabia: UAE-Backed Separatists Capture Most of Yemen’s Aden

As the conflicts between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have reached boiling point, Southern separatists, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), took control of a key military base in the coastal city of Aden, after a UAE fighter jet bombed the facility, as, according to reports, the militants have seized most of the Yemen’s port city.

Fighting between UAE-backed Southern separatists against forces loyal to Saudi-based former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, has intensified in recent days as the United Arab Emirates is determined to speed up implementation of its strategy to take control of Southern Yemen with all its islands and ports.

A senior Yemeni official has told Al-Jazeera that fighters from the Southern Resistance Forces (SRF) have seized the base early on Tuesday, despite a ceasefire being brokered by coalition partners Saudi Arabia and the UAE, hours earlier, as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are trying win a larger share in Yemen and kick the other outside its zone.

Videos posted on social media showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the camp, which is located in Aden’s Northern Dar Saad district.

The seizure of the Fourth Brigade is the biggest gain for the separatists since fighting in the port city, as the SRF had now gained control of most of Aden and fought their way to the gates of Al-Mashaiq Palace.

A source in the city disclosed that the Prime Minister of the former Yemeni government Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr and several ministers remained inside the building as they were preparing to flee to Saudi Arabia, while the separatists have surrounded the presidential palace in Aden after three days of bloody battles.

The fresh outburst began on Sunday after the separatists managed to take control of a number of sites and military camps run by forces loyal to former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi following intense clashes.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, over 36 people have been killed and nearly 200 others injured during the clashes on Sunday and Monday.

Separatists in Southern Yemen, who are backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have dispatched sizable reinforcements to the city of Aden, where they have been engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-allied militants loyal to the former Yemeni government.

The separatists have long demanded independence for Yemen’s South, which used to be independent — with former British colony Aden as its capital — from its formation in 1967 until 1990, when it was unified with the North.