For years, Aidarous al-Zubaidi has been the undisputed strongman of southern Yemen, a former air force officer who transitioned from a rebel leader to a statesman courted by Western diplomats.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, his political trajectory took a drastic turn.<\/p>\n
In a decree that has shaken the country\u2019s fragile power-sharing arrangement, the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Rashad al-Alimi, removed al-Zubaidi from his post as council member, stripping him of his immunity and referring him to the public prosecutor on charges of \u201chigh treason\u201d.<\/p>\n
The decree accuses al-Zubaidi of \u201cforming armed gangs\u201d, \u201charming the Republic\u2019s political and military standing\u201d, and leading a military rebellion.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, the Saudi-led coalition announced that al-Zubaidi had \u201cfled to an unknown destination\u201d after failing to answer a summons to Riyadh\u2014a claim the Southern Transitional Council (STC) vehemently denies, insisting their leader remains in Aden.<\/p>\n
So, who is the man at the centre of these rapid developments in Yemen?<\/p>\n Born in 1967 in the Zubayd village of the mountainous Al-Dale governorate, al-Zubaidi\u2019s life has mirrored the turbulent history of southern Yemen.<\/p>\n He graduated from the air force academy in Aden as a second lieutenant in 1988. However, his military career was upended by the 1994 civil war, in which northern forces under then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh crushed the southern separatist movement.<\/p>\n Al-Zubaidi fought on the losing side and was forced into exile in Djibouti.<\/p>\n He returned to Yemen in 1996 to found Haq Taqreer al-Maseer (HTM), which means the Movement of Right to Self-Determination, an armed group that carried out assassinations against northern military officials. A military court sentenced him to death in absentia, a ruling that stood until Saleh pardoned him in 2000.<\/p>\n After years of a low-level rebellion, al-Zubaidi re-emerged during the Arab Spring in 2011, when his movement claimed responsibility for attacks on Yemeni army vehicles in Al-Dale.<\/p>\n The Houthi takeover of Sanaa in 2014 and their subsequent push south in 2015 provided al-Zubaidi with his biggest opening.<\/p>\n Leading southern resistance fighters, he played a pivotal role in repelling Houthi forces from Al-Dale and Aden. In recognition of his influence on the ground, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed him governor of Aden in December 2015.<\/p>\n However, the alliance was short-lived. Tensions between Hadi\u2019s government and southern separatists boiled over, leading to al-Zubaidi\u2019s dismissal in April 2017.<\/p>\n Less than a month later, al-Zubaidi formed the Southern Transitional Council (STC), declaring it the legitimate representative of the southern people. Backed by the United Arab Emirates, the STC built a formidable paramilitary force that frequently clashed with government troops, eventually seizing control of Aden.<\/p>\n In April 2022, in a bid to unify the anti-Houthi front, al-Zubaidi was appointed to the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).<\/p>\n Despite joining the unity government, al-Zubaidi never abandoned his ultimate goal: the restoration of the pre-1990 southern state.<\/p>\n In interviews with international media, including United Arab Emirates state-run newspaper The National<\/em> and Al Hurra<\/em>, al-Zubaidi outlined a vision for a federal \u201cState of South Arabia\u201d. He argued that the \u201cpeace process is frozen\u201d and that a two-state solution was the only viable path forward.<\/p>\n He also courted controversy by expressing openness to the Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n![\"INTERACTIVE_YEMEN_CONTROL_MAP_DECEMBER](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/INTERACTIVE_YEMEN_CONTROL_MAP_DECEMBER-9_2025-1765288083.png?quality=80\")
The \u2018rebel\u2019 officer<\/h2>\n
From governor to secessionist chief<\/h2>\n
A vision of \u2018South Arabia\u2019<\/h2>\n