Aidarus al-Zoubaidi

Aidarus Qassem Abdulaziz Al-Zoubaidi (born 1967; ) is a Yemeni politician who served as chairperson of the Southern Transitional Council from 2017 until its dissolution in 2026, and was Vice President of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) from 2022 to 2026. He previously served as the governor of Aden Governorate from December 2015 to April 2017.

Biography

Early life and career Zoubaidi was born on 23 July 1967 in Zubayd, a village in the mountains of Dhale Governorate in South Yemen. His family is of the Zubayd-Himyar tribe. In Zubayd, he received primary and secondary education before joining the South Yemen military. He moved to Aden where studied at the air force academy, graduating in 1988 with the rank of second lieutenant. He served as an officer in the Air Defense Forces from then on until late 1989. After the unification of Yemen in 1990, he was transferred to the Central Security Organization of the Ministry of Interior, In early 2014, Zoubaidi announced the establishment of the Southern Resistance, a militant group aligned with the Southern Movement. His statement pledged to continue armed resistance against the Yemeni government until the achievement of an autonomous southern state. His forces later advanced upon the al-Anad Air Base in Lahij, and participated in the Battle of Aden alongside coalition and government units. On 4 August, he declared all areas in the south as liberated from the Houthis.

As Zoubaidi's tenure continued, his influence increased greatly in the region, but his relationship with the central government frayed. On May 3, major rallies were held in Aden to protest the decision of Hadi.

One week later, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) was formed; some of the members were the governors of Dhale Governorate, Shabwah Governorate, Hadramaut Governorate, Lahij Governorate, Socotra, and Al Mahrah Governorate. Al-Zoubaidi became a member of the Southern Movement and President of the Southern Transitional Council.

On 29 January 2018, in the Battle of Aden, al-Zoubaidi announced a state of emergency in Aden and that "the STC has begun the process of overthrowing Hadi's rule over the South". In April 2020, the STC announced self-rule in southern Yemen.

On 7 January 2026, Rashad al-Alimi announced that al-Zoubaidi was dismissed from the Presidential Leadership Council. He stated that al-Zoubaidi had committed treason and ordered an investigation. Simultaneously, al-Zoubaidi was reported to have been absent from peace negotiations in Riyadh concerning the Yemeni civil war. The PLC accused al-Zoubaidi of fleeing instead to Dhale Governorate with a "large number" of STC forces, although the STC said al-Zoubaidi was still in Aden. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen later said that al-Zoubaidi travelled to Berbera by boat and boarded a plane before he flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu.