US appeals for peace in southern Yemen

The US expressed concern Friday over recent developments in southeastern Yemen, urging restraint and continued diplomacy to reach a lasting solution.

"The United States is concerned by recent events in southeastern Yemen," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on the US social media company X. "We urge restraint and continued diplomacy, with a view to reaching a lasting solution."

Rubio thanked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their diplomatic leadership and said Washington remains supportive of all efforts to advance shared security interests.

Since Dec. 3, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces have taken control of parts of eastern Yemen's Hadramout following clashes with the Hadramout Tribes Alliance and government-aligned First Military Region forces.

Four days later, STC forces expanded their control to another eastern province Mahra, which had been under government authority.

A joint Saudi-Emirati military team was dispatched to Aden in southern Yemen to put arrangements in place with the STC that would ensure its forces return to their previous positions outside the two provinces.

The takeover prompted mounting local and regional calls for STC forces to withdraw from Hadramout and Mahra, which together account for nearly half of Yemen's territory, about 555,000 square kilometers (over 214,000 sq miles).