Yemen's main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council, is set to dismantle its institutions effective Friday.

A dispute over territorial control in southern Yemen has set erstwhile Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against each other and fractured the coalition fighting

Landing at Aden International Airport on a trip in late 2017, two flags were visible from the plane as it moved along the tarmac. One was the flag of the former South Yemen, resurrected as a symbol of Yemen’s secessionist southern movement. The other was of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the movement’s primary backer.

The Presidential Leadership Council accused the STC leader of damaging Yemen's military and political standing.

Flights at Yemen’s Aden international airport were halted on Thursday, the latest sign of a deepening crisis between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose rivalry is reshaping war-torn Yemen.

The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that it was pulling out its remaining forces in Yemen after Saudi Arabia backed a call for the U.A.E. forces to leave the country within 24 hours, in a major crisis between the two Gulf powers and oil producers.

The move comes as an escalation of a confrontation that has pitted Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against each other.

Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen's port city of Mukalla, targeting a shipment of weapons from the United Arab Emirates for separatist forces. The UAE later said it would withdraw its forces from Yemen.

A decade after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led a joint military campaign to curb Iran’s influence in Yemen, the two allies now find themselves pitted against each other there.

Yemen's separatist movement on Friday announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south and demanded other factions in the war-torn country accept the move in an escalation of a confrontation that has pitted Gulf powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against each other.