Aden (South24 Center)

The Muslim Brotherhood announced on Tuesday (December 30) its support for the Saudi position and the decisions of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Chairman Rashad al-Alimi, amid political and military escalation against Southerners.

In a statement, the group said it supports what it described as the “defense of Yemen’s unity,” considering that Saudi Arabia’s stance represents a “priority for the Kingdom’s national security.” It accused the United Arab Emirates of pursuing a “separatist approach” by supporting parties operating outside the framework of the state, according to its wording.

The position comes in the wake of unilateral decisions taken by al-Alimi, which were met with public rejection by four members of the Presidential Leadership Council, and coincided with Saudi airstrikes that targeted the civilian port of Mukalla in Hadramout governorate early on Tuesday.

The Brotherhood’s statement expanded the scope of the confrontation by linking developments in South Yemen to broader regional files, warning of what it described as threats to the security of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and calling on regional actors, including Egypt, to take positions opposing what it termed “partition projects.”

The statement also brings back to the forefront the use of religious rhetoric to justify conflict, similar to what occurred during the summer 1994 war, when a fatwa issued by Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood figure Abdulwahab al-Dailami was used as religious cover to mobilize fighters and legitimize the war against the South.

The Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, and the group has been warned against in several statements issued by the Kingdom’s Council of Senior Scholars.