News - Yemen: The southern Yemeni governorates, under Saudi-Emirati occupation, witnessed protests on Saturday, denouncing the deteriorating living conditions following the Saudi-backed government’s approval of a new increase in fuel prices amid the rise in foreign currency exchange rates, with the dollar reaching 2,170 Yemeni riyals.

Local sources reported that the city of Aden has started implementing the new fuel pricing approved by the Saudi-backed government for oil shipments. The price for a 20-liter petrol container has been set at 31,000 Yemeni riyals, while diesel is now priced at 33,000 riyals.

The announcement of the price hike coincided with escalating tensions between the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Rashad Al-Alimi over control of critical oil fields in Shabwa, southern Yemen. This comes despite repeated Saudi and Emirati claims of supporting the Central Bank in Aden with deposits amounting to billions of dollars.

Activists on social media shared videos of citizens and employees in the occupied areas expressing their deep dissatisfaction with the worsening living conditions. They accused the Saudi-backed government of squandering billions of dollars without alleviating the suffering of ordinary citizens.

In 2015, Saudi and Emirati forces entered the city of Aden from Bir Ali, citing the need to repel the "Ansarullah" intervention and "secure international navigation". It didn't take long after the arrival of these forces for the new British-style experiment to take shape.

This comes amid escalating anger and popular discontent among citizens in the occupied southern and eastern provinces due to the collapse of the electricity system in many of these provinces. The pro-aggression government has failed to provide the necessary fuel to operate power plants and save citizens from the intense summer heat.

The Saudi-Emirati ambition in Yemen faced a southern awakening, which began on the island of Socotra when thousands protested against turning the island into a dependency of Abu Dhabi. Then came the uprising of the people of Al-Mahra in July, demanding sovereignty over the province and rejecting foreign control over the city. The protests expanded to reach the city of Aden, where the UAE has deployed over thirty thousand local military personnel loyal to them.

Hundreds took to the streets demanding the departure of the "coalition" forces from the south, a situation that analysts have compared to the protests in the 1960s against British presence, which laid the foundation for armed struggle in the south.