The occupied southern provinces are witnessing rapid developments amid an intensifying power struggle between the Saudi and Emirati poles of the aggression, exposing deep fractures within the Saudi–Emirati alliance after a decade of failure.
Saudi aggression airstrikes targeting the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC), affiliated with the Emirati occupation, have coincided with political decisions issued by the Saudi-backed government based in Riyadh hotels. The parallel military and political moves underscore the extent of division within the aggression alliance and signal a shift toward direct confrontation among its tools.
In recent days, Saudi enemy forces have reportedly reasserted control over several occupied southern provinces following years of dominance by STC mercenaries, during which widespread violations were committed against local populations. The fate of STC leader Aidarous Al-Zubaidi remains unclear amid reports of his removal and pursuit.
Despite Saudi attempts to forcibly reshape the political and security landscape and impose new realities on the ground, the current escalation has been accompanied by exclusionary and treason-related measures targeting prominent figures within the mercenary camp—chief among them Al-Zubaidi—reflecting the scale of disintegration among occupation tools and the exposure of their relationship with Riyadh.
Observers say the unfolding scene revives long-standing realities about projects imposed on the occupied south since the start of the aggression, noting that these entities were designed to perform temporary functional roles that expire as regional calculations change.
Failure of the Aggression Alliance Comes to the Fore in Southern Infighting
As the undeclared Saudi–Emirati conflict intensifies, analysts point to a new phase marked by dismantling existing proxies and manufacturing replacements to serve the same objectives—chiefly prolonging occupation and preventing stability.
Politicians and academics argue that developments in the occupied provinces stem from the accumulation of failures by the aggression alliance to administer the areas or offer any model of governance or stability. Instead, crises and divisions have deepened, turning the south into an open arena for settling scores among the sponsors of mercenaries themselves.
Yemeni Ambassador Abdullah Sabri described the fast-moving situation as a direct reflection of the collapse of the aggression alliance and its transition from managing proxies to discarding them. In televised remarks, he said the combination of airstrikes and exclusionary political decisions shows Riyadh now dealing with its tools through an approach of absolute control, abandoning earlier rhetoric about partnership or consensus.
Sabri added that the so-called STC exhausted its leverage after attempting to step outside Saudi control, noting that effective power has shifted to new military tools operating directly under Saudi orders. He said this shift confirms the failure of reliance on mercenary entities to provide a stable political or security cover for the occupation, adding that the so-called “legitimacy” has reached a state of total paralysis and now exists largely as a hollow structure devoid of influence.
According to Sabri, this has pushed the Saudi enemy to search for alternatives, including promoting the so-called “Homeland Shield Forces,” in an effort to reorder the political scene to serve its agenda—even at the expense of southern social cohesion.
He warned that removing national issues from their Yemeni context and placing them under externally imposed tracks and Saudi guardianship would further fragment Yemen and prolong the cycle of crises, stressing that reliance on foreign patrons ultimately leads to exclusion, accusation, or humiliation.
Southern Cause Between National Roots and External Dependency
While the southern issue remains among the most prominent national questions requiring resolution, analysts say external dependency has undermined the cause, transforming it into a tool for regional rivalries and stripping it of its popular base in favor of narrow projects that serve foreign interests.
Journalist and writer Mahfouz Salem Nasser said the problem lies not in the justness of the southern cause, but in those who claimed to represent it while subordinating it to aggressive powers for personal gain. He noted that the southern movement initially emerged as an independent national movement with broad consensus before being overtaken by an emergent entity that declared itself the sole representative and sidelined other components.
He added that STC mercenaries repeated well-known historical mistakes by betting on external support and turning away from the national dimension, describing their current predicament as proof of the failure and dire end of mercenarism, which occupation sponsors view as disposable tools once their utility expires.
The latest escalation lays bare a reality long obscured by the aggression: force-imposed projects in the occupied south are collapsing one after another, and entities manufactured in intelligence rooms fall at the first serious test. As competition among occupation sponsors intensifies, mercenaries are rapidly transformed from purported partners into accused traitors. Observers stress that just causes do not die even when distorted, and that sovereignty can only be restored through an independent national will, regardless of how the occupation changes its tools.
Source: Almasirah net
