"Aidarous al-Zubaidi, president of Yemen's Southern Transitional Council, unveiled plans for what he called a 'two-year transition' to independence for the southern region - including a referendum by 2028 - in a speech on Friday. "We announce the beginning of a two-year transition. The Southern Transitional Council calls on the international community to sponsor talks between southern and northern parties on how to secure the rights of the people of the south within the specified timeframe," he said. "This will be accompanied by a public referendum on self-determination for the people of the south through peaceful, transparent mechanisms consistent with established international rules and practices, and with the participation of international observers," he continued. The STC backs an independent southern state in Yemen. It came amid fresh fighting in Hadramout with the Yemeni government's National Shield Forces on Friday. The STC claimed those forces had launched attacks 'under Saudi air cover' which Saudi Arabia had not commented on at time of publication. Al-Zubaidi added that the "transitional phase concludes within two years from its commencement date and that a constitutional declaration for the restoration of the state of South Arabia has been ratified, will be announced today, and its implementation will commence on Sunday, January 2, 2028." He also warned that the declaration itself would become 'immediately and directly effective' before that date if talks did not happen or if the south came under 'any military attacks'. The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in the country in 2015 after the civil war broke out a year earlier, has called on the STC to withdraw 'peacefully' from recently taken territories. "