SANA’A (Dispatches) -- UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces seized Yemen’s Al-Aqlah oil facility in Shabwa on Sunday, marking a dramatic escalation in what critics describe as a destructive proxy contest between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh for territorial dominance. 
Aden Independent TV quoted a military source confirming that STC units had taken full control of the strategic site, part of a broader sweep across Shabwa that has seen multiple key positions fall with little resistance.
The rapid STC advance coincides with a sudden Saudi pullback. Sana’a-based Al-Masirah TV reported that Saudi forces began evacuating personnel from Aden, with a cargo plane airlifting dozens of soldiers from coalition headquarters. 
According to the outlet, Saudi authorities also moved to close Yemen’s airspace, blocking civilian flights—steps analysts say reflect Riyadh’s fury over recent STC maneuvers in Hadhramaut and Mahra, regions Saudi Arabia considers red line zones.
Reuters cited STC sources saying members of the Saudi-backed regime have also fled Aden. Riyadh has reportedly withdrawn troops from the presidential palace, symbolizing a retreat from a city long shared uneasily between the Saudi-supported regime and the UAE-backed separatists.
The STC’s capture of Seiyun—Hadhramaut’s second-largest city—under the banner of “Promising Future” has further inflamed tensions. The takeover followed clashes with forces of the Saudi-supported Presidential Leadership Council (PLC). STC units have also pushed into Mahra, edging closer to Oman’s border. Hadhramaut Protection Forces, a Saudi-aligned militia, called for “resistance” against what it labeled an STC attempt to invade the province.
Al-Masirah accused the STC of orchestrating raids, looting, and intimidation campaigns in recently seized areas, asserting that dozens of homes were stormed and residents coerced as the group entrenched itself as the “de facto authority.” The Soufan Center noted that the speed of STC gains—with minimal fighting—has fueled speculation that some territories were quietly ceded.
Critics argue the latest developments expose the deeply corrosive ambitions of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who they say have spent years carving Yemen into spheres of influence to dominate its ports, oil fields, and coastal trade routes. Some analysts and Yemeni political factions further accuse Abu Dhabi of aligning its Yemen strategy with Israeli regional interests.
With the ceasefire collapsing on December 3 and the STC consolidating control over much of the territory it envisions for a breakaway southern state, Yemen’s fragmentation appears to be accelerating—driven, observers say, not by local aspirations but by the competing geopolitical appetites of its powerful neighbors.