The Coalition in Yemen: Al-Zubaidi Flees to the UAE via Somaliland

SadaNews - The Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced on Thursday that the head of the Southern Transitional Council, Aidarus al-Zubaidi, fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland, following Riyadh's announcement of his escape a day prior to a scheduled visit to the Kingdom to discuss recent developments in southern and eastern Yemen.

The official spokesman for the coalition forces, Major General Turki al-Malki, stated that intelligence information confirmed that al-Zubaidi left during the night with others by sea from the port of Aden, heading to Somaliland in the Federal Republic of Somalia.

He explained that the fugitives had turned off their identification system during the sea voyage, before arriving at the port of Berbera on Wednesday afternoon.

Al-Malki added that al-Zubaidi contacted an officer known as "Abu Said" upon his arrival, who was later identified as Major General Awad Said Musleh al-Ahbabi, the commander of Emirati joint operations, to inform him of their arrival, as an aircraft was awaiting them that took off under the supervision of Emirati officers.

The spokesman noted that the aircraft landed at Mogadishu Airport on Wednesday afternoon and waited for about an hour before taking off towards the Arabian Gulf, passing over the Arabian Sea, with the identification system turned off over the Gulf of Oman, then turned back on ten minutes before landing at the "Al-Raf" military airport in Abu Dhabi that same evening.

The statement indicated that reviewing the data of the ship that transported al-Zubaidi showed that it flies the flag of "Saint Kitts and Nevis," the same flag as the "Green Land" vessel that previously transported armored vehicles and weapons to the port of Al-Mukalla coming from the port of Fujairah, according to a previous coalition statement dated December 30, 2025.

The coalition confirmed that it continues to monitor the fate of several individuals believed to have been the last to meet al-Zubaidi before his flight from Aden, including Ahmed Hamid Lamlas, the former governor of Aden, and Mohsen al-Wali, the commander of the security belt forces in Aden, as communication with them has been cut off.

Earlier, the coalition announced that it had informed Aidarus al-Zubaidi on January 4, 2026, of the necessity to come to Saudi Arabia within 48 hours to meet with the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, and the coalition leadership, to discuss the reasons for the escalation and the attack launched by the transitional council forces on the provinces of Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra. It clarified that al-Zubaidi informed the Kingdom of his intention to attend on January 6, before fleeing to an unknown location, leaving the transitional council leadership without any clarifications.