"Crowds took to the streets in southern Yemen’s Aden Governorate on Friday evening to celebrate the declaration by Southern Transitional Council (STC) president Aidaroos Al Zubaidi of a ‘two-year transition’ towards independence, with plans to hold a referendum by 2028. Footage captures revellers gathering at Al Arud Square, hoisting flags of People's Democratic Republic of Yemen as fireworks are launched overhead. Afaf Yahya, a leader within the STC, described Al Zubaidi's declaration as “an excellent, well-thought-out and prudent step towards restoring our next South State.” Head of the STC at the University of Aden, Dr Yahya Al-Jubaie, noted that the declaration "handed the ball over to the people of the North, neighbouring countries, and the world, through a peaceful international legal route through which the South can fulfil all requirements and maintain unity of command." The comments come after a televised address on Friday, in which al-Zubaidi announced the two-year transition. The STC is seeking an independent state in southern Yemen, even as fighting flared again in Hadhramaut on Friday between STC forces and the Homeland Shield forces loyal to the Yemeni government. The STC claimed the Shield forces carried out attacks ‘under Saudi air cover,’ though Saudi Arabia did not comment on the allegation. Al Zubaidi warned that the declaration would come into ‘immediate and direct effect’ if relevant talks failed to take place or in the event of ‘any military attacks’ against the South. The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015 following the outbreak of civil war the previous year, called on the STC to withdraw ‘peacefully’ from territories it had recently taken over."