Undeclared coup attempt aims at overthrow head of pro-coalition “Leadership Council” in Aden

ADEN, June 25 (YPA) – Informed political sources have reported that behind-the-scenes efforts are underway to oust Rashad al-Alimi, the President of the Saudi-led coalition-backed “Leadership Council.”

These sources revealed proposals submitted by the council members to Saudi Ambassador Mohammed Al Jaber. The sources stated that council members linked to the UAE—Tareq Saleh, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, and Faraj al-Bahsani—proposed to Ambassador Al Jaber a mechanism for rotating the presidency of the council among its eight members.

This comes amid indications of Emirati efforts to remove al-Alimi, who is considered close to Saudi Arabia, from his position.

The sources explained that the idea of ​​rotating the presidency is related to competition over interests, positions, and appointments, without regard to attempts to improve the living conditions of citizens, who suffer from power outages lasting up to 20 hours a day in Aden and the southern regions.

The sources indicated that the UAE is exerting pressure on its representatives in the council to implement this proposal, with the aim of enabling Aidarous al-Zubaidi to assume the presidency of the council instead of al-Alimi. These steps come within the framework of a broader competition between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh to achieve their different agendas.

The sources also revealed that Tariq Saleh had submitted a protest memorandum in recent days to Ambassador Mohammed Al Jaber, complaining about what he described as al-Alimi’s marginalization of his partners in the council. He accused al-Alimi of freezing the appointment of figures loyal to him to institutions operating in areas under coalition control.

The sources expected Rashad al-Alimi to leave Aden in the coming days for the Saudi capital, Riyadh, while the official position on the proposal to rotate the council presidency remains unclear.

YPA