Riyadh says Yemeni separatist leader has fled
• Saudi-backed coalition tracks Al Zubaidi’s escape by boat, then by plane
• Presidential council ousts him; pursues high treason charges
• Deep rifts emerge within Southern Transitional Council
ADEN: The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said on Thursday that southern separatist leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, has fled the country by boat, as government forces advanced on the port city of Aden.
The coalition said in a statement that Zubaidi travelled from Yemen to Somaliland, where he boarded an aircraft to Mogadishu. The coalition stated the plane was later tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.
The Somali government announced it has launched an investigation to determine if its airports were used to transport a “political fugitive”, a reference to Zubaidi.
The country’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency said that if this proved to be true, it would constitute a “serious violation” of national sovereignty.
Zubaidi’s escape follows his failure to appear for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday. His group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), claimed he had been asked to go to Saudi Arabia under threat.
In a statement, the Saudi-led coalition provided further details about the flight from Somaliland. It said the aircraft turned off its identification system over the Gulf of Oman before turning it back on 10 minutes before its arrival at Al Reef military airport in Abu Dhabi.
The situation in Aden appeared stable on Thursday, with Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces patrolling the streets and no sign of STC forces, a witness told Reuters. Authorities have also imposed a nighttime curfew in the city.
Aden served as the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government since Houthi forces seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, but leaders of the Saudi-backed government left Aden last month after the STC took control of the city.
The Saudi-led coalition first intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government against the Houthis, an intervention that led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The STC was established in 2017 and later joined the government coalition.
An STC delegation in Riyadh said it had held fruitful talks with the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, according to comments by Mohammed Al Ghaith, a senior official of the group.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council on Thursday ousted the separatist leader from its ranks and referred him for investigation on charges of high treason after he fled the country, according to Arab News.
The council held an emergency meeting, revoking Zubaidi’s membership and dismissing two ministers, Transport Minister Abdulsalam Humaid and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Waed Badhib, from their posts.
The meeting also revealed a split within the STC, as one of its prominent members, Abdulrahman Al-Muharrami, attended the session that voted to oust Zubaidi.
Al-Muharrami’s Giants Brigades forces have also been deployed to help prevent security breakdowns in Aden in coordination with the government, officials said.
Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2026
