Yemen: the war keeps flaring, including among the southern Saudi-supported forces
Yemen: geographic information 

Basic data: population of Yemen (the whole country) 29,000,000 habs Area: 528,000 km2 
Population of the northern region controlled by houthis: aprox. 20,000,000 Population of the southern region (Aden and Hadramauth) formerly controlled by the Saudi supported government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and now disputed by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) : population aprox. 6,000,000 habs Area: 300,000 km2 
Population of Socotra island (politically a province of Southern Yemen): 40,000 habs Area: 3,800 km2 

Updating news of the war (June 21/2020)
 Yemen's internationally recognised government says Southern Transitional Council (STC) fighters have staged "a full-fledged coup" in the strategic island of Socotra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "The militias of the so-called Transitional Council in the Socotra carried out a full-fledged coup that undermined state institutions in the province," Yemen's official news agency reported, quoting an unnamed government official. By the end of Saturday, the separatist group, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had taken control of most of the remote province from forces of Yemen's internationally recognised government headed by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. "These militias launched an attack with various medium and heavy weapons, targeting state institutions and citizens' properties, and stormed government camps and headquarters as well," the official said. "The government will not accept this absurdity." 
The secessionist STC also arrested several military personnel and civilians opposed to the presence of UAE-funded militias on Socotra, the officials said. Those arrested included Brigadier Abdel-Rahman al-Zafrani, commander of the air force in the province, they said. No casualties were reported, said the four security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media. The STC fighters were the on-the-ground allies of the UAE, once Saudi Arabia's main coalition partner in the years-long war against the Houthi rebels, who control vast swaths of territory in the country's north. 
The STC raises the flag of the former communist state in the south and has pushed to again split the war-torn country in two, as it was from 1967 to 1990. 

Socotra Governor Ramzi Mahrous condemned the separatist attacks in his province, saying from his home in the Indian Ocean island that his forces would fight back. He did not elaborate. On Friday, separatists seized several state buildings, including the governor's headquarters, as they pushed into the provincial capital, Hadibo, and engaged in fierce fighting with forces loyal to the government of exiled President Hadi. Self-rule in Yemen's south The fighting in Socotra threatens to cause irreversible damage to the World Heritage Site, which has rare dragon blood trees, plant species, spices and marine life, many of which are found nowhere else. Earlier this year, the separatists declared self-rule in Yemen's south and seized control of the city of Aden, a bid that sparked fears of fresh chaos in a country already embroiled in five years of conflict. Last week, the STC declared self-governance and a state of emergency in the temporary capital of Aden and southern provinces, which caused tensions in Socotra as well as other provinces in the south. The Yemeni government and provinces of Hadramout, Shabwa, al-Mahra, Abyan and the administration of Socotra have rejected the STC's move, which has also drawn widespread international criticism. Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in late 2014 when Houthi rebels, said to be linked to Iran, seized the capital Sanaa and forced Hadi to flee the country and take refuge in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition launched a military offensive in support of Hadi in March 2015. Five years of conflict have left thousands of civilians dead and nearly 3.7 million internally displaced, according to the UN. The impact on the country's infrastructure has been devastating, with major overland routes and airports severely damaged. Last year, the UAE announced it was ending its role in the conflict. However, observers believe the Gulf country continues to be active through its proxies. Before its withdrawal, the UAE set up a military base in Socotra, which enjoys a strategic location overlooking a vital international shipping lane. It also awarded Emirati citizenship to hundreds of residents and has recruited many others to help consolidate its grip over the island, raising tensions with Hadi. 

Who are south Yemen's separatists? 
The Southern Transitional Council, backed by United Arab Emirates, is leading the separatist cause in Aden. by Linah Alsaafin 20 Sept 2019 Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Southern separatist fighters Fighting in south Yemen escalated dramatically last month as separatist militias seized the city of Aden from forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of President.
The clashes between the nominal partners in the anti-Houthi coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have exposed the divergent interests of the Gulf powers as well as their Yemeni allies. The separatist fighters in Aden are loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a political body established in Aden in 2017 that wants to restore independence in the south. The capture of Aden by secessionists has shifted the centre of the Yemen war to the south and brought renewed focus to the country's decades-old southern question. When the Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 to fight Houthi rebels who had taken control of major cities in the country including Sanaa and Aden, the southern separatists and government-aligned forces joined the alliance. Aden was regained by Hadi's forces in July 2015, and began to function as the interim capital with the northern city of Sanaa firmly under Houthi control. Yet tensions in Aden rose in April 2017 when Hadi accused the city's governor, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, of disloyalty and dismissed him. On May 11, following mass protests against al-Zubaidi's removal, the Southern Transitional Council was formed, with the former Aden governor chosen to preside over the 26-seat council. The body immediately declared its intention to "reinstate the Southern State" - a reference to the former South Yemen republic, which existed from 1967 until 1990. "The STC wants to have authority over the territories they operate in," said Sama'a al-Hamdani, an independent Yemen analyst and non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute. "This could potentially mean sharing power with the government temporarily before asking for a referendum on secession," she continued. "They also want to be recognised internationally for their role in supporting the coalition and the Yemeni government throughout the war." Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia while the Houthis were still in control of Aden, immediately denounced the STC as illegitimate, but the wheels for southern independence have already been set in motion, Holly Topham from the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies said. The STC was behaving akin to what Topham called a "government-in-waiting in the south with state-like characteristics and a would-be parliament, the National Assembly". Members of UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatist forces during clashes with government forces in Aden UAE role in south Yemen Since 2016, the United Arab Emirates has provided military and financial backing to the Security Belt, a now STC-dominated paramilitary group comprised of some 90,000 Yemeni fighters. In 2015, the coalition relied on the Security Belt to secure territories in the south and reinstate the government in Aden, with Hadi's forces regaining full control of the city in July. Human Rights Watch in 2017 alleged the militia had carried out abuses, including arbitrarily detaining people and forcibly disappearing dozens. "The STC was considered part of the [Saudi-UAE-led] coalition and a key partner to Hadi's government," al-Hamdani said. Yet the fighting between the UAE-backed Security Belt and government forces supported by Saudi Arabia has exposed divisions between the coalition's two key leaders. In January 2018, fighting between the two sides broke out, resulting in separatist forces seizing almost all of Aden while the presidential palace was surrounded. At least 38 people were killed in three days of fighting, before the Saudi-UAE-led coalition mediated to lift the siege, placing the city under government loyalist control. 
More than a year-and-a-half later, the STC regained control of Aden on August 10 after four days of fighting between separatists and Hadi's troops, which killed dozens and wounded more than 200. In the aftermath, Hadi's government accused the UAE of backing a "coup" and conducting air raids that reportedly killed and wounded 300 people in southern Yemen - though the numbers could not be independently verified. In late August, Hadi urged Saudi Arabia to intervene and halt the UAE's air raids on its forces. 
The UAE responded by saying it acted out of self-defence and carried out air attacks on "terrorist militias" - although it didn't identify them. To curry favour with the international community, Topham said the STC has been "claiming continued support for the Hadi government in public statements, while simultaneously embarking on an international lobbying offensive for its separatist cause". 
 But there are fears the UAE is using the southern separatist sentiment for its own geopolitical interests, especially given the fact the south is rich in natural resources. "The UAE has economic priority in south Yemen," Afrah Nasser, an independent Yemeni journalist and analyst, told Al Jazeera. "Their aspirations in the south has to do with their investment interests." "If the Houthis were in the south then the UAE would have struck an alliance with them also," she added, calling the STC-UAE relationship a "temporary marriage of convenience".
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/yemen-accuses-uae-backed-separatists-staging-coup-socotra-200621070336058.html