Shabwa STC official rejects Al-Alimi’s decisions, warns against Riyadh moves

ADEN, March 15 (YPA) – A senior official in the “dissolved” Southern Transitional Council (STC), backed by the UAE, rejected all decisions issued from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, describing them as lacking both legal and moral legitimacy.

Sheikh Lahmar Ali Lasoud, head of the STC branch in Shabwa, said in a post on the X platform that the people of the southern provinces did not recognize any decisions coming from Riyadh, whether imposed from near or afar, because they lack legal and moral legitimacy.

Lasoud also stated that decisions issued either by Saudi-funded Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi or by the head of the Saudi-backed government represented a violation of the Riyadh Agreement and therefore had no legal standing.

He further compared Al-Alimi’s moves toward Saudi Arabia with the policies of the former regime, saying those approaches had previously been attempted by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who tried to bury the Southern cause through appointing southerners to top state positions but ultimately failed in the face of the resilience and sacrifices of the people of the South.

Earlier in March, the Interior Ministry of the Saudi-aligned Aden government issued orders to arrest Lasoud. He was accused of inciting the storming of local government headquarters in Shabwa by armed men during a protest organized by the STC, which demanded the departure of the government led by Shaya al-Zindani from Maashiq Palace in Aden, south of Yemen.

AA