Yemen's government says southern areas retaken from secessionist STC forces

Yemen's internationally recognised government has claimed the recapture of southern and eastern parts of the country from the Southern Transitional Council (STC), as thousands of people rallied in the city of Aden in support of the secessionist group, Report informs via Al Jazeera.

Rashad al-Alimi, chief of the Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said on Saturday that two key regions had been retaken and that government forces have assumed full control of southern Yemen.

"As the president of the country and the high commander of the armed forces, I want to assure you of the recapture of Hadramout and al-Mahra," al-Alimi said.

He added that the Yemeni government has invited former members of the STC to Saudi Arabia"s capital, Riyadh, for discussions on the country's future and that all military forces in Yemen will now operate under the command of the Saudi-led coalition in the country.

Al-Alimi's announcement came after a successful Saudi-backed offensive to drive the STC out of the Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces, which it had seized towards the end of last year.

The two provinces border Saudi Arabia and make up nearly half of Yemeni territory.

The confrontations exposed heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a top ally that the Saudi authorities have accused of backing the STC.

Al-Alimi's address came shortly after thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in the STC stronghold of Aden to show support for the group amid conflicting reports about its purported plans to disband.

STC supporters chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government in Aden's Khor Maksar district. The crowd waved the flag of the former South Yemen, which was an independent state between 1967 and 1990.