Small Wars Journal

Pompeo Urges Yemen’s Government, Southern Faction to End Fighting

Thu, 08/29/2019 - 12:21am

Pompeo Urges Yemen’s Government, Southern Faction to End Fighting by Sune Engel Rasmusse and Saleh al-Batati – Wall Street Journal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Yemen’s government and a local faction to resolve their dispute over control of the country’s south, which threatens Saudi-led efforts to reassert control over the entire country and end its war.

The Yemeni faction, called the Southern Transitional Council, fights alongside government forces in a U.S.-backed international coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in the country’s north, but it is also seeking a separate state in the south.

Their rival agendas for Yemen have often resulted in clashes, and three weeks ago the STC captured the government’s interim capital, Aden. On Wednesday the two sides fought for control over the port city, with both claiming the upper hand. The clashes have exposed deep rifts in the coalition and threaten to splinter it…

Read on.