On October 5, groups linked to the former Southern Transitional Council (STC), including the powerful Southern Giants Brigades, joined troops of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in a major offensive against the Houthis near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The operation was part of a nationwide military campaign to push the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah, out of territory they hold. That includes a vital coastal region the Iran-linked group seized in September.
By Monday afternoon, the pro-government force led by the Giants Brigade said it had cut off the main road linking the Red Sea port city of Mocha with Bab al-Mandeb, a waterway that is vital for energy supplies. The gain gave anti-Houthi forces one of their first major military advances in years. It followed an announcement by Rashid al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), of a major offensive against the group.
Former STC factions join government forces against Houthis
The offensive showed how well anti-Houthi forces can perform when they work together, even though they include units with different political goals. Several STC-affiliated groups, some of which want independence for the south, are now fighting alongside pro-government national forces against the Houthis.
The partnership follows a high-profile clash in southern Yemen in January, when Saudi-aligned government forces defeated the United Arab Emirates-backed STC. That defeat led to a relative centralisation of anti-Houthi forces. Among the leading formations in the recent government offensive are the Giants Brigades, which have their roots in the southern separatist movement.
Origins and record of the Giants Brigades
The force is commanded by Abd al-Rahman Abu Zaraa al-Muharrami, a Salafi who studied at the ultraconservative Dammaj religious school in the northern governorate of Saada. The brigades were formed largely by Salafi fighters during the battle against the Houthis in the southern city of Aden in the first half of 2015. Over the course of the war they have become one of Yemen’s most formidable military forces.
The brigades are believed to have been armed, trained and funded by the UAE. They rose to prominence in 2017, when an offensive captured large parts of Yemen’s western coast from the Houthis. That advance was eventually halted on the outskirts of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah after the United Nations-brokered Stockholm Agreement in late 2018. In January 2022, the group seized three districts in the southern governorate of Shabwa and pushed deeper into neighbouring Marib, before its offensive stalled after a Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi on January 17, 2022.
Al-Muharrami had no known military background before the war, which began when the Houthis captured Sanaa in September 2014. The group has largely stayed out of infighting between anti-Houthi forces. He joined Yemen’s eight-member PLC in April 2022, around the time his forces adopted the name Southern Giants Brigades, a move that signalled a growing southern political identity. The formation later joined the STC, deepening its ties with the southern separatist movement.
After the STC forces collapsed following the government offensive in January, al-Muharrami flew to Riyadh and backed the Saudi-led initiative to unify southern forces.
Debate over the separatist aims of the Giants Brigades
The brigades’ role in the war is now seen as a test of their political loyalty. Some observers argue the force remains fundamentally separatist. Others point to its earlier advances into Hodeidah as evidence that it does not necessarily pursue a separatist agenda. They also cite its leading role in the latest offensive beyond southern Yemen, where many former STC units have remained confined, as a sign of a stronger commitment to national unity.
Fathi bin Lazraq, editor of the Aden Al-Ghad newspaper and an outspoken critic of southern separatists, believes the Giants Brigades would fight the Houthis anywhere in Yemen. He pointed to their operations in northern areas, including Hodeidah and Marib, and said the word “Southern” in their name did not necessarily mean they backed secession or would refuse to fight beyond the borders of the former South Yemen state. Unlike the Homeland Shield Forces, which al-Alimi set up in January 2023 under his direct command, the Giants Brigades operate in a more ambiguous position.
“They do not fight as ‘Southern forces’ per se, but rather as part of the legitimate government forces backed by the [Saudi-led] coalition,” bin Lazraq said. He added that, while they operate under the banner of southern forces, they do not present themselves as separatists.
Accusations that the brigades harbour southern separatist aspirations, however, are not without basis, according to the report. The group’s current offensive is focused on areas within the borders of the former South Yemen entity, including the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Some fighters in the operation have raised the former South Yemen flag, and embedded journalists have shared footage of soldiers expressing separatist sentiments.
STC President Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who has not appeared publicly since his forces were defeated in January, entered the debate by offering condolences to fighters killed in the offensive, describing them as martyrs. He also criticised what he said were others taking credit for victories won by southern forces. “The South will not allow the victories of its armed forces to be stolen under slogans that do not reflect its reality,” al-Zubaidi said on X.
Anwar al-Tamimi, an STC spokesperson, said the participation of southern forces was focused on capturing and securing Bab al-Mandeb and surrounding areas, which separatists consider part of the state they seek to restore. He said the southern forces were “aimed at protecting and securing the south’s borders.” He did not rule out southern forces advancing deeper into northern Yemen to secure their gains, following similar operations in the north.
Al-Tamimi also said the Giants Brigades remained loyal to the southern independence movement despite taking part in the wider anti-Houthi offensive. He described them as “southern brigades driven by a southern combat ethos, alongside elements of Salafist ideas,” adding that they “carry the flag and banner of the south.”
