GNV News, December 10, 2025

On December 8, 2025, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), active in southern Yemen, announced that it had taken control of all of southern Yemen, including the port city of Aden. In the days leading up to the announcement, the STC had launched offensive operations, and tensions had been rising as it took control of cities and oil facilities in the south.

In Yemen, a situation has persisted in which multiple armed groups, intervened in and supported by foreign countries, control different areas amid a long-running armed conflict. In 2015, Ansar Allah (also known as the Houthi movement) seized the north, including the capital Sanaa. In response, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intervened militarily, and forces backed by these two countries came to control the south based in Aden. Ansar Allah is also said to receive support from Iran.

Since then, a stalemate had set in, with Ansar Allah controlling the north and Saudi-backed forces (since 2022, the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC)) controlling the south. Meanwhile, the STC, backed by the UAE, joined the PLC alongside Saudi-aligned forces, but because it aims for the independence of South Yemen, it has clashed with them within the PLC.

With the STC’s takeover across southern Yemen, for the first time since 1990 the territory that once belonged to South Yemen has come under the control of a single actor. In addition, Saudi-backed forces have withdrawn from Aden in the face of the STC offensive, and the STC’s influence is thought to be stronger.

It has also been noted that the UAE’s approval for the STC underlies this offensive. There is also speculation that, in the Sudan conflict—in which, as in Yemen, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are involved—Saudi Arabia’s request in November 2025 for U.S. intervention provoked Emirati displeasure and may have prompted the STC’s offensive.

Learn more about the Yemen conflict → “Yemen conflict: A new phase”

Learn more about the UAE’s foreign policy → “UAE: A small regional power”

Learn more about Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy → “Saudi Arabia: The cruelty hidden on the world stage”

The Yemeni port city of Aden seized by the STC (Photo: T3n60 / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0])