Saudi Arabia invites 'all southern factions' to 'dialogue' in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia on Saturday invited ‘’all southern factions’’ in Yemen to take part in a ‘’dialogue’’ in Riyadh aimed at ending fierce clashes between separatists and other members of the government coalition.

Riyadh ‘’calls on all southern factions to actively participate in the conference’’ intended to find ‘’fair solutions that meet the legitimate aspirations of the people of the South,’’ the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The invitation, which Saudi Arabia said was made at the request of the Yemeni government, comes shortly after Saudi airstrikes on the separatist movement.

The separatist group, known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC), announced on Friday that it was launching a two-year process to establish a state in southern Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula and already devastated by years of war. An independent Democratic People’s Republic existed in southern Yemen from 1967 to 1990.

The STC has captured large areas of Yemen in recent weeks and says it intends to maintain control despite Saudi calls to withdraw and strikes on its positions. On Friday, Saudi air raids killed 20 people, according to the separatists, the first casualties inflicted by Riyadh, a government coalition ally, on the STC since its territorial gains in December.

Backed by Abu Dhabi, the separatist movement controls much of Hadramout province, which borders Saudi Arabia and contains significant oil resources, as well as Mahra. On Tuesday, the Riyadh-led coalition bombed what it described as a suspected shipment of weapons from the United Arab Emirates in a Yemeni port controlled by the STC.

The separatist advance has angered other government factions and Saudi Arabia, further straining relations with the UAE.

The Saudi-led coalition was formed in 2015 to support Yemen’s internationally recognized government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and later much of the north. A truce agreed in 2022 has largely held in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, fractured the country, and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.