News - Yemen: The governor of Lahj, Ahmed Hammoud Juraib, affirmed that Yemen’s unity is the most important achievement of the Yemeni People in modern political history.

According to the Saba Agency, Governor Juraib indicated that unity is a fruit of independence from all forms of domination and occupation, and the Yemeni People cannot neglect this achievement, which is the main pillar for building modern Yemen.

On the anniversary of Yemen’s Unity, he pointed out that the projects aiming to divide Yemen that failed to undermine unity in the nineties of the last century cannot grow despite the regional and international conspiracy, adding that all conspiratorial projects will be dropped by the Yemeni People who defended sovereignty and independence over eight years of US-Saudi aggression and siege.

Governor Juraib explained that the solution to the southern cause should be by strengthening national unity and within its framework, calling on the people of the southern governorates to reject the fragmentation and separation projects that the occupying countries are trying to pass through their mercenaries in Aden.

He warned of the danger of the calls for secession fueled by Saudi and Emirati money, stressing that the occupying countries are working to transform the southern governorates into warring states to consolidate their colonial agenda there.

The governor of Lahj pointed out that the movements led by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, which coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the Unity, are considered a green light by the aggression that is trying to push Yemen towards a bloody civil war after it suffered a military setback during the years of aggression.

Earlier, President Mahdi Al-Mashat indicated that the 33rd anniversary of the blessed Yemeni Unity comes at a time when the country is exposed to plots and suspicious projects that seek to undermine it by further dismantling and tearing.

New scenarios are being taken by the head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) Aidarous al-Zubaidi as part of his attempts to control Hadramout governorate, and include it in the secession project, which has flourished remarkably recently in southern Yemen. He attempts to drag the tribes in this governorate into the ranks of the separatist scheme through negotiation with the Hadramout tribes.

Al-Zubaidi’s attempts to strengthen his position in this province appeared through his speech, in which he emphasized “the great importance that the province represents in the southern project, due to its historical and cultural heritage, and its competencies capable of contributing effectively to shaping the future of generations.”

The maritime objectives of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war have played an essential role in determining the conflict’s direction. The military aggression by a Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 sought to defeat Ansarullah and restore the retired president Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi. Saudi and Emirati officials sought to control vital waterways, leading to their investment in ports and military bases in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

For many years, the oil-rich Hadramout governorate, southeast of Yemen, remained far from the war, with the exception of al-Qaeda's temporary control of the city of Mukalla, which ended with a sudden withdrawal after the entry of UAE forces in 2016.

In light of this, from 2018 onward the UAE began recalibrating its strategy, advancing its own interests ahead of those of the coalition. Its primary aims were to control Yemen’s coastlines and shipping lanes and implement a “string of ports” strategy. However, this process led to rivalry between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi as their interests in Yemen diverged.

The UAE took control of key southern ports and the regions around them, pushing them to advance a southern separatist project. Yet Saudi Arabia saw this strategy weaken its own main ally, the Saudi-backed government, leading to a breakdown in the coalition.

Now both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia are mobilizing their tools to Hadramout. The STC flocks to the province in conjunction with the end of a consultative conference of components in Hadramout, which opposes any tendencies of the STC.