The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced that Aidros al-Zubaidi, the head of the Southern Transitional Council of Yemen, which is supported by the United Arab Emirates, fled the port of Aden last night on a ship to the port of Berbera in Somaliland, instead of attending peace talks in Riyadh, and was then transferred by plane to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and finally to Abu Dhabi.
According to a coalition statement released on Thursday (January 8, 2026), the flight was conducted under the supervision of Emirati officers, and after a one-hour stop in Mogadishu, the plane flew to a military airfield in Abu Dhabi. The coalition emphasized that Al-Zubaidi left other leaders of the council on a plane that was supposed to go to Riyadh.
This claim comes as tensions between Saudi-backed forces and the Southern Transitional Council have recently escalated, including coalition airstrikes on the council’s positions in Dhale’a province. The Southern Transitional Council has denied these claims, claiming that Al-Zubaidi is still present in Aden and overseeing operations.
