AL MUKALLA, Yemen, Dec 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - UAE-backed separatists accused Saudi Arabia, the main backer of Yemen's internationally-recognised government, of striking their positions in Hadramawt on Friday, a day after the kingdom urged them to return recently-seized territory.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the air strikes, which raised fears of escalation after years of relative quiet, in a conflict that has for more than a decade drawn in regional players such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The separatist advances have added pressure on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which support rival groups within Yemen's internationally-recognised government.

The government is a patchwork of groups that includes the separatists, and is held together by shared opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis.

"The Saudi Air Force bombed positions of the Hadrami Elite Forces in Wadi Nahb in Hadramawt," the separatist-affiliated Aden Independent Channel said in a social media post, referring to a group within the separatist faction.

The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) told AFP that Saudi Arabia had conducted two strikes in the area.

The Saudi-led coalition, which backs the government, did not immediately respond to AFP's request to confirm the strikes.

The air strikes followed clashes in the area on Thursday between the separatists and a tribal leader close to Saudi Arabia.

A military official in Hadramawt told AFP that the tribal leader had left the area after the fighting.

- Refuse to withdraw -

The Saudi strikes came a day after Saudi Arabia urged the separatists to withdraw from Hadramawt and Mahra provinces, seized earlier this month.

On Friday, the UAE welcomed efforts by Saudi Arabia to support security in Yemen, as the two Gulf allies sought to present a united front despite backing different sides in the latest clashes.

A Saudi-Emirati military delegation visited Aden earlier this month to ask the STC to return the two provinces it recently seized, with Saudi deescalation efforts still ongoing, according to Riyadh.

A source close to the STC had told AFP at the time that the delegation asked them to withdraw from the newly-seized territory but that the group refused.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned last week that the STC's advances raised the risk of "wider escalation and further fragmentation".

"A full resumption of hostilities could have serious ramifications on regional peace and security," he said, urging parties to deescalate tensions.

In December, the UAE-backed STC, which wants to revive the formerly-independent state of South Yemen expelled other government forces and their allies from large parts of the country, sparking fears of further instability.

Yemen has been divided for more than a decade, after the Houthis pushed the government out of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and went on to secure control over most of the north, which includes the country's major population centres.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.

Fighting, however, has decreased significantly since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022.