The United Arab Emirates has welcomed Saudi ‍Arabian efforts ‍to support security and stability in Yemen and remains committed to backing stability in the country, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The UAE statement on Friday came a day after Saudi Arabia said it hopes Yemen’s main southern separatist group, the ⁠Southern Transitional Council (STC), will end an escalation and withdraw its forces from the eastern provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra.

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The STC, which previously received military and financial backing from the UAE, pushed the ​Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government from its headquarters in Aden while ‍claiming broad control across the south earlier this month.

“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavours aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen,” ‍the Emirati Foreign ⁠Ministry said in its statement.

On December 12, a joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation arrived in Aden to discuss measures aimed at defusing tensions in the country.

Saudi Arabia ​said the teams were sent to make “the ‌necessary arrangements” to ensure the return of STC forces to their previous positions outside the two provinces, adding that the efforts were still in progress.

The STC advance has threatened to prompt a confrontation within a fragile coalition that has been battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen’s north for a decade.

The separatists were initially part of the alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the ‌Houthis. But the group has turned ⁠on the government and sought self-rule in the south.

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Yemen has already been marred by a civil war since 2014, with the Houthis controlling the northern part of ‌the country, including the capital Sanaa, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.

Situated between Saudi Arabia and an important shipping route on the ‍Red Sea, Yemen was split into northern and southern states until 1990.