Southern Transitional Council seizes key areas of Yemen’s Hadramawt Governorate from rival government forces

Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces captured the city of Seiyun and other important civilian and military sites in Hadramawt Valley on December 3 after limited clashes with Yemeni Army troops of the First Military Region. The First Military Region forces, which are aligned with the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) and the Al Islah party, Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, had controlled this territory for years. The STC is also part of Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government.

The STC offensive took place amidst escalating tensions in resource-rich Hadramawt, Yemen’s largest Governorate that stretches from the Gulf of Aden in the south to the border with Saudi Arabia in the north.

An array of distinct actors in Yemen control different segments of Hadramawt. While the STC and its partners have held sway over the southern, coastal portion of the governorate, their forces are now moving north and “aiming at controlling all of Hadhramawt,” an anonymous STC official told The National.

The STC has named this operation “Promising Future” and declared its intent to “restore stability to the [Hadramawt] Valley, end the state of security breakdown, and halt the exploitation of the region by forces alien to the Valley and governorate.” The STC’s mobilization began at the end of November to counter activity by Sheikh Amr Bin Habreish, a tribal leader whom the STC describes as a rebel.

Bin Habreish leads the Hadramawt Tribal Alliance and its related Hadramawt Protection Forces (HPF). On November 29, he deployed his troops in and around PetroMasila oil infrastructure, Yemen’s largest oil company, which halted production on December 2 due to the escalation. Bin Habreish stated that this military movement was done “to enhance security there and to defend national resources from any potential aggression or the external interference.” In a statement on December 1, he described the steps taken by the HPF as “self-defense according to the available capabilities.”

The STC claims that, “over the past years, areas of the Valley have been transformed into a platform for smuggling operations benefiting the terrorist Houthi militias and into hotbeds for the activities of extremist organisations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, which has led to the continued bloodshed of the people of the South and the targeting of our brothers in the Arab Coalition forces. Given this reality, we state unequivocally that the South will never be a corridor for threatening regional security, a haven for terrorism or a logistical lifeline for the terrorist Houthi militias.”

According to Yemeni media reports, a Saudi delegation arrived in Hadramawt on December 3 to de-escalate the situation.

“We came to affirm our support for the local authority in Hadhramaut and to renew our support for legitimacy in Yemen, and to support all those who seek to enhance the stability of Yemen and Hadhramaut in particular,” said Major General Dr. Muhammad al Qahtani, the head of the Saudi delegation. The Saudi representatives reportedly demanded the withdrawal of forces that entered Hadramawt. Saudi Arabia supports many of the tribes and government forces in Hadramawt that the STC opposes.

The STC, though also part of Yemen’s IRG, argues for southern secession and, at times, clashes with other government forces. Some segments of society in Hadramawt advocate for Hadramawt’s autonomy, though the governorate was part of the former state of South Yemen, also known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, until the country’s unification in 1990.

Bridget Toomey is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies focusing on Iranian proxies, specifically Iraqi militias and the Houthis.