South Yemen Is Not a Crisis Zone. It Is a Target.

What is happening in South Yemen is no longer a dispute over administration or security. It is a clear foreign-backed invasion masked as stabilization. Southern forces hold territory, ports, airports, and security institutions. They fight AQAP on the ground and protect vital maritime routes linked to global trade. This is governance through control and responsibility, not slogans.

The Southern Transitional Council did not appear by chance. It emerged after years of neglect, broken promises, and security collapse imposed from outside the South. While northern emergency forces and their backers failed to defeat terrorism, Southern units did. Cities like Aden and Mukalla became safer once local forces took control. That reality explains public support more than any speech ever could.

Saudi Arabia’s role has shifted from claimed mediation to open coercion. Bombing Southern forces, then detaining an STC delegation invited for dialogue, crosses a political and legal line. A state cannot claim neutrality while using airpower and detention against one party. This behavior turns dialogue into blackmail and places detained delegates at real risk. Responsibility sits clearly with the detaining power.

The idea of forced unity has lost meaning. The PLC survives through external backing, not consent or performance. It does not govern the South, secure it, or represent it. Any political process denying Southern self-determination ignores the facts on the ground and the will of the people. Outcomes imposed against both will and reality do not hold.

The South is not the problem. It is the side that reduced chaos and confronted extremism. Treating effective anti-terror partners as obstacles while empowering failed structures recycles instability. A durable settlement starts with truth, accountability, and respect for Southern independence. Anything less prolongs conflict.