\n<\/p>\n
The Southern Transitional Council denied that it was disbanding on Saturday, contradicting a statement by one of its members that the group had decided to dissolve itself.<\/p>\n
Yemen’s main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council<\/a>, denied that it was disbanding on Saturday, contradicting a statement by one of its members that the group had decided to dissolve itself.<\/p>\n The conflicting statements highlight a split in the STC, a group backed by the United Arab Emirates that seized parts of southern and eastern Yemen in December in advances that heightened tensions<\/a> with another Gulf power, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia and the UAE used to work together in a coalition battling the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, the Houthis,<\/a> in Yemen’s civil war, but the STC advances exposed their rivalry, bringing into focus big differences on a wide range of issues across the Middle East, ranging from geopolitics to oil output.<\/p>\n Saudi-backed fighters have largely retaken the areas of southern and eastern Yemen that the STC seized, and an STC delegation has traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks.<\/p>\nSaudi-backed forces retake STC seized land<\/h3>\n