Saudi Arabia has proposed a framework to end the latest standoff in southern Yemen between nominal allies under a Saudi-led coalition, three sources said, as violence escalates with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in the north of the country. Previous clashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group, have complicated U.N. efforts to end Yemen’s ruinous conflict and protect its fractured health sector from COVID-19. The STC in April declared self-rule in Aden, interim seat of the Riyadh-backed government, and in other southern regions, risking reigniting violence between the two sides, both members of the anti-Houthi alliance.
