News - Yemen: The Governor of Aden, Tariq Mustafa Salam, has issued a stark warning against the "criminal schemes" of the Saudi-Emirati "occupation" aimed at dragging the southern provinces into a new wave of internecine conflict and chaotic violence.

In a fiery statement, Governor Salam asserted that the aggression forces are utilizing their proxy mercenaries and militias to shred the social fabric and tighten their control over national resources. He condemned the suspicious military movements and mobilization by the Saudi-backed so-called "Presidential Leadership Council" and rival militias in Aden and other southern provinces, stating their goal is to manufacture a "bloody anarchy" that serves the agenda of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

"The policy of 'divide and rule' pursued by the occupier has been exposed to all free people," Salam declared, warning against compromising citizen security or using them as fuel for a foreign-managed proxy war.

Reflecting bitterly on the past decade, the governor detailed the suffering of Aden's residents and those in other occupied areas, alleging they have endured the worst forms of oppression—including secret prisons, political assassinations, and suppression of freedoms under the grip of security and military forces loyal only to foreign powers.

He attributed Aden's current crisis, marked by severe living and service deterioration, not merely to administrative failure but to a "deliberate act" by the Saudi-Emirati occupation. Salam accused the aggression of employing a policy of humiliation through cutting electricity and water and collapsing the currency as "dirty weapons" to subjugate citizens, diverting attention from the plunder of oil and sovereign wealth, with revenues funneled to mercenary leaders in foreign hotels.

Governor Salam concluded by affirming that the path of dignity is the only way to end this dark era. He called on the people of the southern and eastern provinces to unite and confront the aggression's conspiracies, stressing that "the will of the Yemeni people will not be broken, and the blood of the free will purify every inch of the homeland from the filth of the Saudi-Emirati occupation and its cheap tools, which will fall with the fall of their operators."

Since the March 2015 aggression, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have relied heavily on local proxies to manage occupied territories, seeking to fragment Yemen politically and militarily. The recent developments mark a shift toward more direct Saudi control as Emirati influence recedes, exposing the weakness and transient nature of mercenary structures. Analysts warn that without a unified national stance and restoration of Yemeni sovereignty, the southern provinces will continue to experience instability, division, and exploitation by external powers.