Aden, Yemen – The crisis between the coalition partners in Yemen has entered a dark and seemingly irreversible phase. While Riyadh justified its bombing of the port of Mukalla as a means of combating “arms smuggling,” southern forces responded with unprecedented rhetoric, describing the attack as the “death blow” to the Arab coalition. They also indicated that it represented a dangerous escalation towards targeting civilian infrastructure.
Transitional Council: The alliance is now a thing of the past.
Leaders in the Southern Transitional Council described the Saudi bombing of the port of Mukalla this morning as a “unilateral Saudi aggression.”
Official sources within the council confirmed that this attack officially ends the role of the “Coalition to Support Legitimacy.” They asserted that the coalition, which was established to protect the region, has transformed into a “tool of repression” against the aspirations of the people of the south.
The council clarified in its statement that the bombing will not break the will of the southerners. It will not succeed in separating Hadramawt from the project of a southern state. It also explained that the decision now rests with “the street and the people,” not with fabricated military statements. It added that the South will emerge from this confrontation stronger and will wrest its homeland from what it described as “the Brotherhood and those who stand behind them.”
Hani Mas’hour: Al-Maliki’s statement is “an outdated political document”
In an analytical reading of the event, political analyst Hani Mas’hour refuted the official Saudi narrative presented by Major General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, deeming it a “blatant distortion of reality.”
Hani Mas’hour’s key points: He described the talk of weapons ships as an unsubstantiated claim. He asserted that the ships were commercial vessels. In his opinion, the aim was to cover up the targeting of a vital civilian facility.
Mashhour considered the bombing of the port to be a collective punishment of the people in their livelihoods, and evidence of the inability to manage the political dispute.
Mashhour described the inclusion of the UAE’s name in the story as a “despicable act,” the aim of which was to blame Saudi Arabia’s failure and shortcomings on “foreign scapegoats.”
Mashhour asserted that using the coalition’s cover to bomb ports distorts the very essence of this framework. He considered it a transformation from a tool of protection into a “tool of blackmail” against the South.
