![Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) [Aidarous al-Zubaidi/Facebook]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/image-17.jpg)
The Saudi-led coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen said that Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of Yemen’s southern separatist group, and several aides secretly left the port of Aden on the night of 7 January aboard a vessel named BAMEDHAF, heading to the port of Berbera in the Somaliland region. According to a statement by the coalition’s spokesman, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, intelligence information showed that after his arrival, al-Zubaidi, the leader of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), contacted a Yemeni officer known as Abu Saeed. He was later identified as Major General Awad Saeed Musleh al-Ahbabi, commander of the UAE joint operations. The statement said an Ilyushin IL-76 cargo aircraft was waiting for them and flew from Berbera to Mogadishu airport. […]
