Saudi-led coalition strikes Yemen, says STC leader al-Zubaidi has fled

Coalition says it targeted secessionist forces after Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled hours before he was due for talks in Riyadh.Published On 7 Jan 2026The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has launched strikes on the country’s southern Dhale governorate, saying it was targeting secessionist forces after their leader fled instead of boarding a plane scheduled to take him to talks in Riyadh.In a statement early on Wednesday, the coalition said the leader of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous al-Zubaidi, had been due to fly out from the Yemeni city of Aden on Tuesday night for talks on ending the conflict between his group and the internationally recognised government of Yemen.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Yemeni separatists to attend Saudi talks after losing key southern siteslist 2 of 4Hundreds of tourists stuck on Yemeni island as tensions simmer on mainlandlist 3 of 4Saudi-backed government forces retake multiple cities in southern Yemenlist 4 of 4Egypt says it shares ‘identical’ views with Saudi Arabia on Yemen, Sudanend of listBut al-Zubaidi did not board the plane, and “fled to an unknown location,” it said.“During this time, the legitimate government and the coalition received information that al-Zubaidi had mobilised a large force, including armoured and combat vehicles, heavy and light weapons, as well as munitions,” the coalition added.The force left Aden at around midnight and were later located in the Dhale governorate, it said. The coalition launched “preemptive strikes” at 4am local time (01:00 GMT) to disable those forces and thwart al-Zubaidi’s “attempt to escalate the conflict”, the statement added.The STC later issued a statement calling on Saudi Arabia to halt air strikes, adding that ‌they have ‌lost contact ⁠with their delegation in Riyadh.The separatists also said that ​al-Zubaidi is ‍in Aden overseeing military and security operations ‍in the ⁠city.The council, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen, launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops in December, seeking an independent state in the south.