Southern Transitional Council

The Southern Transitional Council (STC; Arabic: المجلس الانتقالي الجنوبي, romanized: al-Majlis al-Intiqālī al-Janūbī) was a Yemeni separatist political and paramilitary organization that formed in 2017 and held territory in southern Yemen until January 2026. Formed as a faction of the Southern Movement, it has called for the secession of a proposed federal "State of South Arabia" from the rest of the nation along the borders of former South Yemen, with the name being inspired from the British-created Federation of South Arabia. The organization was backed by the United Arab Emirates.

The council was led by the former Governor of Aden Governorate, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, as chairman, with former minister of state and militant Salafi Islamist, Hani bin Burayk, as vice president. The formation of the council was authorized a week earlier by the "Historic Declaration", announced at a rally protesting the dismissal of al-Zoubaidi from his post as governor. The STC, a major party to the Yemeni civil war, once controlled all of the territories of the former South Yemeni state. The 26 members of the STC included the governors of five southern governorates and two government ministers.

In April 2022, the STC joined the Presidential Leadership Council, after then-Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi resigned and transferred presidential powers to the newly formed body. STC head Aidarus al-Zoubaidi became the Vice President of the new government. The STC increased its influence in the council by enlarging its membership to three out of the eight, through internal reorganization in May 2023.

In December 2025, the group launched a major offensive to retake the territory of former South Yemen. This was initially widely successful, with the STC capturing almost the entire territory of the former southern state. However, this prompted a PLC-HTA counter-offensive with direct Saudi military support. This turned the tables on the STC and in early January 2026, the council had lost most of its territory, including its capital Aden. A dispute over the group's fate arose, as an STC delegation in Riyadh announced the group would dissolve, while the group's official spokesperson and other high-ranking officials stated that the Riyadh statement was "null and void", had been made under duress and the STC remained "fully legitimate and operational". Since the loss of its controlled territories and dissolution, members of the organization who are based in the UAE have continued to issue statements and calls for protest.