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Details of Zach Pop’s $900,000, one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies:
2026 salary: $900,000 while in major leagues, $250,000 while in minor leagues
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FILE - Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Zach Pop throws to a New York Mets batter in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Tuesday Sept. 10, 2024. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP,File)
ADEN, YEMEN (AP) — A council fighting against Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Wednesday that it had expelled the leader of a separatist movement and charged him with treason after he reportedly declined to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks.
The latest upheaval in southern Yemen is revealing a growing divide among the Persian Gulf powers, cracking the coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis. Longstanding differences between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — from Sudan to energy policy — have spilled into Yemen, where they back rival factions. The rift has deepened strains between the two neighbors, who officially share the goal of countering the Houthis, in control of the capital, Sanaa, since 2014.
Uncertainty is also growing over the future of Yemen itself — a country strained by more than a decade of war in the Arab world’s poorest country.
A delegation of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, which had been backed by the United Arab Emirates, flew to the Saudi capital, where it was scheduled to attend a meeting to discuss the situation in Yemen's southern governorates.
But the STC said in a statement it lost contact with the delegation after it landed. It expressed “deep concern” over the matter.
The STC said leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi remained in Aden, the interim capital where the internationally recognized government is based. It also accused Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes in Yemen's al-Dhale governorate and causing casualties.
“While a senior STC delegation is in Saudi Arabia pursuing negotiations, the President remains in Aden to ensure security and stability," wrote Amr al-Bidh, an STC official focused on foreign affairs. “He will not abandon his people, and he will engage directly when conditions allow.”
The Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC, headed by Rashad al-Alimi, accused al-Zubaidi in a Facebook statement of “damaging the republic’s military, political and economic standing,” as well as “forming an armed gang and committing the murder of officers and soldiers of the armed forces."
More than 15 Saudi airstrikes overnight hit the al-Dhale governorate, targeting STC camps, according to STC leader Salah bin Laghir.
Meanwhile, two eyewitnesses, Hossam Mohsen and Mohamed Awlaqi, told The Associated Press that armored vehicles affiliated with the STC left Aden overnight heading to al-Dahle.
Other witnesses, Khaled Mathni and Abdallah Abeid, said they saw drones in the sky and flames rising as explosions shook neighborhoods in al-Dahle city and its surrounding areas. They said they believe a weapons warehouse was targeted.
In a statement Wednesday morning, the STC said it was “surprised” by the Saudi airstrike, adding that it marks a “regrettable escalation.”
“While the Southern Transitional Council condemns these unjustified airstrikes, it demands that the Saudi authorities immediately cease the bombing, guarantee the safety of its delegation in Riyadh, and enable it to communicate immediately, considering this a prerequisite for creating a positive atmosphere for any serious and meaningful dialogue,” the STC statement read.
The anti-Houthi leadership group, the PLC, formed in April 2022 after President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi of Yemen’s internationally recognized government stepped down.
Its members have often pursued competing agendas and relied on different foreign backers, leaving the council fragmented and unable to mount a unified campaign against the Houthis — even after the United States and Israel launched bombing campaigns targeting the rebels.
An uneasy ceasefire between the combatants on the ground in Yemen held for years. But tensions flared again in late December over the STC's advances in the oil-rich governorates of Hadramout and Mahra, which were once held by Saudi-backed forces.
Maj. Gen, Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said Wednesday that al-Zubaidi, had been due to take a flight to Saudi Arabia with other council officials but did not join them.
“The legitimate government and the coalition received intelligence indicating that al-Zubaidi had moved a large force — including armored vehicles, combat vehicles, heavy and light weapons, and ammunition,” al-Malki said. Al-Zubaidi “fled to an unknown location.”
“What is happening today in the southern governorates after the rebellion of Aidarus al-Zubaidi, and despite all the sincere efforts made by our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Presidential Leadership Council to prevent reaching this stage, is not what we wished to reach, and we are not happy with what has happened,” said Abdualla al-Alimi, vice President of the Presidential Leadership Council on X.
On Sunday, Saudi-backed forces spread across the port city of Mukalla, retaking the capital of Hadramout province following days of Saudi airstrikes.
Saudi Arabia in recent weeks has bombed STC positions and struck what is said was a shipment of Emirati weapons. After Saudi pressure and an ultimatum from anti-Houthi forces to withdraw from Yemen, the UAE said Saturday it had withdrawn its forces.
Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula off East Africa, borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The war there has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
Khaled reported from Cairo, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
FILE - The president of the Yemen's Southern Transitional Council Aidarous Al-Zubaidi sits for an interview, Sept. 22, 2023, in New York, while attending the United Nations General Assembly's annual high-level meeting of world leaders. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
