Dozens of STC’s supporters hold anti-Saudi demonstrations in Abyan

ABYAN, Feb. 14 (YPA) – Dozens of supporters of the now-dissolved Southern Transitional Council (STC), backed by the UAE, held on Saturday a protest rally in Zinjibar, Abyan province’s capital, south of Yemen.

In the rally, they condemned Saudi violations and demanded the release of military and political leaders still detained in Riyadh.

Chanting for Saudi forces to leave southern Yemen, the demonstrators issued a statement calling for the immediate release of detained Defense Minister in the Saudi-led coalition-backed Aden government Mohsen Al-Daeri.

The rally also urged lifting restrictions on the STC’s delegation attending the “South-South dialogue” in Riyadh, allowing their unconditional return to Aden.

It appealed to international and human rights organizations to document Saudi airstrikes on STC forces in Hadramout and Dhalea over the past two months, which killed or left missing around 1,000 people—mostly from Dhalea and Radfan.

Protesters reaffirmed loyalty to Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the STC, as the southern cause’s political leader, despite uncertainty over his fate since Saudi airstrikes targeted him in early January.

They slammed Saudi Arabia’s dissolution of the STC as lacking legal and popular legitimacy.

AA