For two years, Amer Ali, a resident of the southern Yemeni city of Aden, joined rallies opposing Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 68,000 people.
Ali viewed these demonstrations, held regularly across Yemen, as a moral duty to stand against what the United Nations and leading genocide scholars have condemned as genocide in Gaza.
To his dismay, however, the leadership of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) – the main separatist movement in southern Yemen – has recently signalled a willingness to normalise relations with Israel.
Ali has supported southern secession for a decade. He long regarded the STC as the movement most capable of restoring South Yemen’s independence from the north, which has been under Houthi control since the civil war erupted in 2014.
However, remarks made last month by STC leader Aidarus al-Zoubaidi have sparked outrage among Yemenis across the political spectrum, both in the north and the south.
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Zoubaidi said the creation of an independent southern state could pave the way for normalisation with Israel.
“The STC was heading towards signing an alliance agreement with Israel before 7 October 2023,” he added.
Yemen’s unification in 1990 brought together the formerly separate north and south under a political agreement between their respective leaders. Southern grievances, rooted in political and economic marginalisation, began to intensify within a few years, giving rise to persistent demands for independence that continue to this day.
‘Zoubaidi believes that aligning himself with Israel could earn him regional and international recognition and sympathy’
– Sadam al-Huraibi, Yemeni political commentator
Ali remains committed to the southern cause but firmly rejects normalisation with Israel as a price for advancing it.
“Building ties with Israel with the aim of advancing our cause is a grave misstep. History will remember the STC as the first entity in Yemen to declare its readiness to normalise relations with Israel,” Ali said.
“Personally, I see neither honour nor wisdom in such a move.”
For the separatists, however, joining the Abraham Accords is seen as the correct course, offering several potential advantages.
Mansour Saleh, a leading member of the STC, said in an interview earlier this month that accession to the Abraham Accords would grant the council greater international recognition and protect it from isolation.
The sponsor’s agenda
For years, calls for southern secession remained largely peaceful and limited in scope. But in 2016, the separatists’ military and political influence began to grow, bolstered by weapons and funding from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Today, the STC holds control over most of Yemen’s southern provinces.
“When the STC speaks about normalisation with Israel, it is following the strategy of its regional sponsor,” said Adel Dashela, a non-resident fellow at MESA Global Academy.
The UAE was among four Arab countries to sign the Abraham Accords in 2020, formally establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. By aligning with the Emirati agenda, Dashela believes that the STC may reap certain strategic benefits from its willingness to engage with Israel.
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“The pursuit of friendly ties with Israel could help the separatists secure the approval and support of powerful countries like the United States,” Dashela said.
Yet locally, such a move is widely rejected. For Yemenis, the Palestinian cause has never been a peripheral question, and any gesture towards Israel remains deeply unpopular.
In a statement to Middle East Eye, Mohamed Alsahimi, head of the STC’s UK office, said: “The STC views the Abraham Accords as an important step on the path towards regional stability and the establishment of a recognised Palestinian state.”
Alsahimi added that the council fully backs the Saudi-led international initiative for a two-state solution.
Abdul Karim al-Saadi, a member of the Southern Movement, a pro-secession coalition, said the STC does not represent the southern population, suggesting that Saudi Arabia and the UAE imposed the council on the south with little regard for public opinion.
“The southern issue has nothing to do with the war over jobs and money, and the offering of concessions to… the Zionist entity at the expense of the homeland, the Yemeni citizens, and the nation’s issues,” he added.
Saadi believes Zoubaidi and his allies are pursuing their own interests and have no legal or national mandate to speak on behalf of southern Yemenis.
Israel’s footprint in South Yemen
In 2020, STC fighters seized control of Socotra, a strategic chain of islands along a key shipping route between Europe and Asia. Backed by the UAE, they overpowered government forces in brief clashes and expelled northern Yemenis.
Since then, the council has been the dominant authority on the archipelago, operating with the explicit support of Abu Dhabi. A recent report by MEE revealed that the UAE has built and expanded military and intelligence bases on the islands of Abd al-Kuri and Samhah.
‘The pursuit of friendly ties with Israel could help the separatists secure the approval and support of powerful countries like the US’
– Adel Dashela, MESA Global Academy fellow
The report also noted that the UAE has not acted alone; Israel has been involved in constructing bases on the Socotra islands as well.
“Israeli officers have been on the ground in the islands and Israeli radar systems and other military and security apparatus allow the UAE to monitor and thwart attacks launched by the Houthis,” it said.
Over the past two years, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement has launched drone and missile attacks against Israel and Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
In response, Israel has carried out multiple air raids on Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, killing more than 300 people and destroying key civilian infrastructure, including homes, fuel depots, and power stations.
Alsahimi said the council’s priority is to contain instability in the north, where the Houthis have “exploited” the Gaza conflict for self-serving propaganda.
He added that once the STC achieves its own legitimate state, “we will look to engage constructively with regional and global agreements that bring prosperity, development and stability to our own people and the wider region”.
The secessionist agenda
Abduljabar Salem, a resident of the southeastern province of Hadhramaut, said normalisation with Israel is widely viewed as a “reckless decision”.
“Our values dictate that any person, group or nation supporting Israel’s cruel behaviour should not be considered a friend or partner. The STC seems to show no regard for its popular base in Yemen or the wider Arab world.”
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Sadam al-Huraibi, a Yemeni political commentator, said the STC leader’s comments were an attempt to promote the secessionist agenda on the global stage.
“Zoubaidi speaks of normalisation for a reason,” he told MEE. “He believes that aligning himself with the Israeli occupation could earn him regional and international recognition and sympathy.”
In Huraibi’s view, the effort is futile, as Israel remains an occupying power and the STC continues to lack legitimacy both at home and abroad.
“The STC is a tool. Israel and other regional powers will discard it once it is no longer needed,” Huraibi said.
“Neither can Israel help the secessionists establish a separate state in southern Yemen, nor can it achieve any significant objectives through them.”
