The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), traveled to Somaliland aboard a vessel before boarding an aircraft bound for the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
اضافة اعلان
In a statement, the coalition explained that the aircraft carrying Al-Zubaidi to Mogadishu waited for one hour before taking off to a military airport in Abu Dhabi, without specifying whether Al-Zubaidi was still on board.
The official spokesperson for the coalition forces, Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, stated that “intelligence information” indicated that Al-Zubaidi and others fled overnight via a maritime vessel (BAMEDHAF) from the port of Aden toward the Somaliland region of the Federal Republic of Somalia after midnight on January 7. They reportedly switched off the identification system and arrived at the port of Berbera at around 12:00 noon.
He noted that the vessel transporting Al-Zubaidi was “flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis,” the same flag as the vessel “Ghir Land,” which had transported combat vehicles and weapons to the port of Mukalla from the port of Fujairah.
Al-Maliki added that an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft was waiting for Al-Zubaidi and those accompanying him. The aircraft departed without specifying its destination, “under the supervision of Emirati officers,” and later landed at Mogadishu airport at 15:15. It remained at the airport for one hour before departing at 16:17 toward the Arabian Gulf via the Arabian Sea, without specifying the final destination. The identification system was switched off over the Gulf of Oman and reactivated ten minutes before landing at Al-Rafid military airport in Abu Dhabi at 20:47 Saudi time.
He further stated that coalition forces “are still following up on information regarding the fate of some individuals who were reported to have been the last to meet with Aidarous Al-Zubaidi before his escape from Aden,” including Ahmed Hamed “Malmis,” the former governor of Aden, and Mohsen Al-Wali, commander of the Aden Security Belt Forces, with whom contact has been lost.
Meanwhile, Yemeni Prime Minister’s adviser Ali Al-Sarrari said on Wednesday that Al-Zubaidi had squandered the opportunity to preserve his standing in Yemen by failing to attend the Riyadh Conference to discuss the Southern Issue in Yemen.
Speaking from Makkah on the program Al-Ashira aired on Al Mamlaka TV, Al-Sarrari added that Al-Zubaidi did not inform members of the Southern Transitional Council of his intentions to “rebel,” withdraw weapons from camps, and send them to his home region of Al-Dhalea.
Al-Sarrari suggested that Al-Zubaidi may have headed to Al-Dhalea to seek protection among his tribe and its mountainous terrain, while another possibility circulating is that he fled to Somaliland via a small boat.
