For years, Aidarous al-Zubaidi has been the undisputed strongman of southern Yemen, a former air power officer who transitioned from a insurgent chief to a statesman courted by Western diplomats.
However on Wednesday, his political trajectory took a drastic flip.
In a decree that has shaken the nation’s fragile power-sharing association, the chairman of the Presidential Management Council (PLC), Rashad al-Alimi, eliminated al-Zubaidi from his submit as council member, stripping him of his immunity and referring him to the general public prosecutor on fees of “excessive treason”.
The decree accuses al-Zubaidi of “forming armed gangs”, “harming the Republic’s political and army standing”, and main a army revolt.
Concurrently, the Saudi-led coalition introduced that al-Zubaidi had “fled to an unknown vacation spot” after failing to reply a summons to Riyadh—a declare the Southern Transitional Council (STC) vehemently denies, insisting their chief stays in Aden.
So, who’s the person on the centre of those fast developments in Yemen?
The ‘insurgent’ officer
Born in 1967 within the Zubayd village of the mountainous Al-Dale governorate, al-Zubaidi’s life has mirrored the turbulent historical past of southern Yemen.
He graduated from the air power academy in Aden as a second lieutenant in 1988. Nonetheless, his army profession was upended by the 1994 civil struggle, by which northern forces beneath then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh crushed the southern separatist motion.
Al-Zubaidi fought on the shedding aspect and was compelled into exile in Djibouti.
He returned to Yemen in 1996 to discovered Haq Taqreer al-Maseer (HTM), which implies the Motion of Proper to Self-Willpower, an armed group that carried out assassinations in opposition to northern army officers. A army courtroom sentenced him to dying in absentia, a ruling that stood till Saleh pardoned him in 2000.
After years of a low-level revolt, al-Zubaidi re-emerged through the Arab Spring in 2011, when his motion claimed accountability for assaults on Yemeni military autos in Al-Dale.
From governor to secessionist chief
The Houthi takeover of Sanaa in 2014 and their subsequent push south in 2015 supplied al-Zubaidi along with his greatest opening.
Main southern resistance fighters, he performed a pivotal position in repelling Houthi forces from Al-Dale and Aden. In recognition of his affect on the bottom, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed him governor of Aden in December 2015.
Nonetheless, the alliance was short-lived. Tensions between Hadi’s authorities and southern separatists boiled over, resulting in al-Zubaidi’s dismissal in April 2017.
Lower than a month later, al-Zubaidi shaped the Southern Transitional Council (STC), declaring it the reliable consultant of the southern individuals. Backed by the United Arab Emirates, the STC constructed a formidable paramilitary power that ceaselessly clashed with authorities troops, finally seizing management of Aden.
In April 2022, in a bid to unify the anti-Houthi entrance, al-Zubaidi was appointed to the eight-member Presidential Management Council (PLC).
A imaginative and prescient of ‘South Arabia’
Regardless of becoming a member of the unity authorities, al-Zubaidi by no means deserted his final aim: the restoration of the pre-1990 southern state.
In interviews with worldwide media, together with United Arab Emirates state-run newspaper The Nationwide and Al Hurra, al-Zubaidi outlined a imaginative and prescient for a federal “State of South Arabia”. He argued that the “peace course of is frozen” and {that a} two-state resolution was the one viable path ahead.
He additionally courted controversy by expressing openness to the Abraham Accords.
“If Palestine regains its rights … when now we have our southern state, we’ll make our personal choices and I consider we will likely be a part of these accords,” he advised The National in September 2025.
Most lately, on January 2, 2026, al-Zubaidi issued a “constitutional declaration” asserting a two-year transition interval resulting in a referendum on independence – a transfer that seems to have triggered his dismissal.
The ultimate rupture
The occasions of January 7 mark the collapse of the delicate alliance between the internationally recognised authorities and the STC.
Brigadier Basic Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the coalition, said that al-Zubaidi had been distributing weapons in Aden to “trigger chaos” and had fled the nation after being given a 48-hour ultimatum to report back to Riyadh.
Al-Maliki additionally confirmed “restricted preemptive strikes” in opposition to STC forces mobilising close to the Zind camp in Al-Dale.
The STC has rejected these accounts. In an announcement issued on Wednesday morning, the council claimed al-Zubaidi is “persevering with his duties from the capital, Aden”.
As a substitute, the STC raised the alarm about its personal delegation in Riyadh, led by Secretary-Basic Abdulrahman Shaher al-Subaihi, claiming they’ve misplaced all contact with them.
“We demand the Saudi authorities … assure the protection of our delegation,” the assertion learn, condemning the air strikes on Al-Dale as “unjustified escalation”.
With “excessive treason” fees on the desk and air strikes reported within the south, al-Zubaidi’s lengthy recreation for independence seems to have pushed Yemen right into a harmful new section of battle.
