South24 | Aden

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South Yemen witnessed a simultaneous security and military escalation over the past week, coinciding with a car bomb attack that targeted a senior commander in the Southern Giants Brigades and security moves aimed at rearranging the situation in the capital, Aden.

Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Brigade of the Southern Giants Brigades, survived an assassination attempt last Wednesday in the Jaoula area, north of Aden, after his convoy was targeted with a car bomb. The attack resulted in the killing of four of his escorts and the injury of five others, according to security sources. The incident occurred two days before a mass demonstration in Aden called for by the President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, according to Aden Independent TV.

The STC, the Aden local authority, the Yemeni government, and the Presidential Leadership Council condemned the attack. Condemnations were also issued by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, and Germany, describing it as “a terrorist act aimed at destabilizing security.” No group claimed responsibility, while Yemen’s Ministry of Interior said it had information about plots by the Houthis and terrorist groups to undermine stability in South Yemen.

On the ground, one soldier from the Southern Forces was killed and two others were wounded in clashes with the Houthis in the Thukhab sector, north of Al-Dhalea, on Friday evening. Two soldiers were also killed and two others wounded in a Houthi drone attack on the Markhah front in Shabwa last Saturday, in addition to the killing of a soldier in Ain district in a similar strike, according to military sources. Two soldiers from the Nation Shield Forces were killed and a third wounded by an improvised explosive device on the Al-Abr road in Hadramout last Sunday.

The Southern Giants Forces shot down two Iranian-made drones over Bayhan in Shabwa and thwarted Houthi infiltration attempts on the Ahama front in Lahj. Southern forces carried out attacks on Houthi positions on the Karsh front in Lahj, while the Houthis shelled southern positions on the Al-Hadd front in Yafa’a with more than 20 mortar rounds.

In a separate development, air defenses at the Saudi forces camp in Al-Buraiqa district, west of Aden, intercepted a drone that attempted to breach Aden’s airspace at dawn on Thursday, according to a security source who spoke to South24 Center. There was no official comment from the Saudi Joint Forces Command.

On the security front, Southern forces seized a drug shipment off the coast of Ras Al-Ara near Bab Al-Mandab, amounting to 119 kilograms of hashish and 85 kilograms of crystal meth, and arrested four smugglers.

In Aden, the governor announced the start of a redeployment of forces while maintaining security belts and agencies inside the city, and renaming the Security Belt Forces as the “National Security Forces.”

In Hadramout, the STC condemned what it described as arbitrary arrests and called for the release of leader Ali Faraj Al-Tambashi. Meanwhile, the Seiyun Primary Court suspended its work in protest over an attack on its premises by soldiers affiliated with the Yemeni Emergency Forces, a link that the latter denied.

On Wednesday, the Saudi-backed Hadramout National Council said the Yemeni Emergency Forces had begun handing over their positions in Hadramout to the Nation Shield Forces.

The presence of Yemeni forces that arrived in Hadramout following the withdrawal of STC forces has sparked widespread criticism among Hadramis.

Externally, the head of the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority praised British cooperation in the fields of training and logistical support.

In a separate context, the UAE Ministry of Defence denied allegations regarding the presence of weapons and secret prisons linked to it at Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla, stressing that its withdrawal from Yemen was completed on January 2, 2026, and that all its equipment was transferred in accordance with military procedures. It described the accusations as “misleading and aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the UAE Armed Forces.”

Security and military facilities in Mukalla were subjected to looting after UAE forces left the Al-Rayyan Airport camp earlier this month, according to local sources.

Browse all security incidents over the past week on the following interactive map: