The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has said the head of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), Aidarous Al Zubaidi, fled the country under cover of darkness and travelled to the United Arab Emirates after failing to attend scheduled peace talks in Riyadh.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the coalition said Al Zubaidi left the southern port city of Aden late on Wednesday aboard a vessel bound for Berbera in Somaliland.

From there, he reportedly boarded a plane alongside Emirati officers and flew to Mogadishu before continuing on to Abu Dhabi.

According to the coalition, the aircraft switched off its identification systems while flying over the Gulf of Oman and reactivated them shortly before landing at Al Reef military airport in the UAE capital.

Neither the STC nor the Emirati government immediately commented on the claims.

If confirmed, Al Zubaidi’s departure is likely to further strain relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose rivalry in Yemen intensified after the Abu Dhabi-backed STC launched an offensive in December against forces loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.

The STC, which once fought alongside the government against the Houthi movement, is seeking to establish an independent state in southern Yemen.

In recent weeks, it seized the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra along the Saudi border — moves Riyadh described as a direct threat to its national security.

Saudi Arabia responded with air strikes on the port of Mukalla on December 30, targeting what it described as a UAE-linked weapons shipment.

The internationally recognised Yemeni government also called for Emirati forces to withdraw from the country.

Abu Dhabi denied the shipment contained weapons and said it remained committed to Saudi security, while announcing an end to what it termed its “counterterrorism mission” in Yemen.

Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi air power, later retook Hadramout and Mahra.

The STC subsequently said it would take part in Saudi-hosted peace talks, but the coalition said Al Zubaidi did not board the flight carrying the STC delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday.

In a further escalation, Rashad Al Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, announced that Al Zubaidi had been dismissed from the body for what he described as “high treason”.

Al Alimi said he had instructed the attorney general to open an investigation and pursue legal action against the separatist leader.