Yemen, already devastated by five years of civil war, crashed into chaos on Saturday with seizure of the presidential palace in Aden by separatist fighters after several days of clashes in the southern city.
"We took the palace to the forces of the presidential guard"
Since Wednesday clashes between separatist fighters and government soldiers have occurred, all of whom have been allies since 2015 in a coalition led by Saudi power in Ryad and the Emirati government of Abu Dhabi, to fight against the rebels. Houthis supported by Iran. "We took the palace to the forces of the presidential guard without combat," said a spokesman for a separatist military force called "Cordon de sécurité" and formed by the United Arab Emirates.
A particularly symbolic catch - President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his prime minister are in Saudi Arabia - but a turning point.
Prevent climbing
The fighting in Aden between separatists elements of the "Cordon of security" and troops of the government, made at least 18 dead - combatants and civilians - according to doctors and sources of security. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), more than 75 injured people have been treated in a hospital under this NGO since Friday. Even before the presidential palace fell, Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said he was "very worried" and said "to make every effort to calm the situation and lead to de-escalation" .
North-South hostility
The clashes in Aden make the situation of a country in which tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, have already died in the aftermath of the civil war a little more intractable. About 3.3 million people are still displaced and 24.1 million, or more than two-thirds of the population, need assistance, according to the UN.
South Yemen was an independent state until 1990. In the south, resentment is strong against the Yemeni natives of the North accused of forcing the unification of the country by force.
To this North-South hostility is added the conflict within the heterogeneous coalition initially formed to defend the government. Yemen is now facing the risk of a "civil war in the civil war," the International Crisis Group think tank (ICG) said in a report.