Pro-Saudi Yemen governor launches bid for military bases

ADEN

Saudi-backed forces in Yemen's Hadramawt province launched an operation to "peacefully" take back military sites on Jan. 2 after a sweeping advance by UAE-supported separatists raised fears of a major confrontation.

The weeks-long separatist offensive has already prompted airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and escalated tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Hadramawt governor Salem Al-Khanbashi announced the operation shortly after he was also appointed to lead the Saudi-backed National Shield forces in the resource-rich province bordering Saudi Arabia.

"This operation is not a declaration of war, nor an attempt to escalate tensions," Khanbashi was cited as saying in a statement by the official Saba Net news agency.

"This operation does not target any political or social group, nor does it target civilians," he said, adding that it "aims to peacefully and systematically hand over military sites."

The secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized much of Hadramawt and neighboring Mahra, bordering Oman, last month. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are rival powerbrokers in Yemen's government-run areas.

The wealthy Gulf powers formed the backbone of a military coalition aimed at dislodging the Iran-backed Houthi rebels after they forced the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and seized Yemen's most populated areas.

But after a brutal, decade-long civil war, the Houthis remain in place and the Saudis and Emiratis are backing different factions in the government territories.