Abu Dhabi (South24)

On Monday Evening, STC President, Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, said that “Iran plans to control Bab AL-Mandab like it does in the Strait of Hormuz”. 

In an interview with Skynews Arabia, Al-Zubaidi accused Iran of making “blatant interference in the region through its proxies of militias such as the Houthis”. 

He added that “the STC asked the international community to stop the Houthi piracy in the Red Sea”.

The STC is one of the most prominent active parties in Yemen and it fights the Houthis along with the Saudi-led alliance. 

Countering terrorism 

The STC’s President pointed out that confronting both AQAP and ISIS after the 2015 War “has been accomplished by establishing the UAE-backed Security Belt Forces”. 

He accused the Muslim Brotherhood (the Islah Party) of “feeding extremists”. 

Al-Zubaidi indicated that a “large part of terrorism has been eradicated”. However, he stressed that “the risks are still existent till this moment”. 

The crisis in Shabwa

Ten days after violent battles in the Oil-rich Shabwa, Al-Zubaidi talks about “regional competition” in the Southern governorate. 

The Southern Giants Brigades announced Yesterday, Monday Evening, completing the liberation of all Shabwa districts from the Houthis. 

Al-Zubaidi announced that the STC is ready to “support and back the Northern people to liberate their territories without foreign guardianship”.

On Tuesday, the Southern Giants Forces declared their control of large parts of Harib District in Marib, which is located on the border strip with Shabwa. 

The STC’s President accused the Islah Party of “handing over” Bayhan District in Shabwa and other Northern fronts to the Houthis, describing that as a kind of mutual “collusion”.

The Riyadh Agreement

Al-Zubaidi believes that the Muslim Brotherhood (The Islah Party) is the reason behind not implementing the Riyadh Agreement. 

The Islamic Party has ministerial portfolios inside the government formed by the Yemeni President in December 2020 in light of the Riyadh Agreement. 

According to Al-Zubaidi, the STC had refused participating in this government which includes “the Islah Party” but later it accepted after a mediation by the Arab Alliance. 

Earlier, the Yemeni Government accused the STC of being behind “escalating matters” in South Yemen after large demonstrations against the deterioration of the economic situation. 

Al-Zubaidi attributed the grassroot-escalation in Hadramout to “the severe agony” of people of Hadramout “who suffer from electricity power outage in spite of the governorate’s rich oil resources”.

He criticised the presence of Yemeni forces in Hadramout and “asked them to go to Marib or Al-Jawf in North to fight the Houthis”. 

The partnership between the STC and both the KSA and the UAE are “strong” according to Al-Zubaidi. 

“We support the Arab project in the region. We adopt this position from the very beginning,” he added.

On the other hand, Yemeni parties accuse the STC of attempting to separate South Yemen from North, but Al-Zubaidi said: “we, the STC, are committed to restore our state with full identity and sovereignty”.

- South24 Center
- Photo: The STC President during his interview for Sky News Arabia, Monday, January 10, 2022 (Sky News Arabia)