BEIRUT — On the 58th anniversary of Yemen’s independence from British colonial rule, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis poured into Sana’a’s Al-Sabeen Square and into major public arenas across multiple provinces in a powerful display of national unity and revolutionary resolve. 

The mass rallies, held under the banner “Liberation Is Our Choice… The Occupier Shall Vanish,” underscored a collective, unwavering commitment to sovereignty, resistance, and solidarity with oppressed nations across the region.

The rallies’ central communiqué articulated the people’s steadfastness and full readiness for what it called “the next round with the enemies and their tools—militarily, security-wise, and through official, popular, and mobilization activities.” 

The message was unequivocal: Yemen will not retreat from its “just and rightful positions,” nor will it abandon the Palestinian or Lebanese peoples, nor any of the oppressed nations confronting occupation and aggression. 

“Nations can achieve great victories,” the statement emphasized, “when willpower and determination align.”

This year’s anniversary was not merely ceremonial. It was a political declaration—a statement of continuity between the revolutionaries who expelled Britain in 1967 and the generation that confronts today’s trilateral hegemony: the United States, Britain, and the Israeli enemy. 

The Yemenis’ massive turnout symbolized a reassertion of the historic legacy of struggle, one that once forced an empire “upon which the sun never set” to drag its defeated army out of Aden.

Participants chanted slogans reaffirming unwavering support for Gaza and Palestine, echoing Yemen’s long-standing position that the Palestinian cause remains the central cause of the Arab and Islamic nations.

The shadow war in Hadhramaut

While Sana’a celebrated independence with national pride, the eastern province of Hadhramaut plunged deeper into instability as rival UAE- and Saudi-backed armed groups escalated a dangerous confrontation for control over the governorate’s strategic oil infrastructure.

Recent days witnessed fighters loyal to Saudi Arabia storming the PetroMasila oil facilities in Wadi al-Masila, clashing with the officially assigned security units and inflicting casualties.

Competing UAE-aligned factions issued fierce counter-statements, labelling the incursion “a blatant act of sabotage” and demanding the attackers’ immediate withdrawal.

What unfolded was not merely a local security dispute but a vivid manifestation of the larger Saudi-UAE rivalry over influence in eastern Yemen.

Additional clashes erupted when tribal fighters associated with the Hadhramaut Tribes Alliance repelled an attempted advance by UAE-backed forces toward oil fields. 

Although the situation temporarily calmed, both sides rushed reinforcements to the area, building new fortifications and preparing for what observers fear could become a full-scale confrontation.

Political analysts warn that these maneuvers represent an effort by the UAE’s proxies to redraw the power map following their losses in Marib, Shabwah, and Taiz.

Oil facilities—vital economic lifelines—have become tools of leverage for rival mercenary networks, while civilians and workers bear the brunt of insecurity, economic disruptions, and paralyzed local services.

The escalation, they argue, is further inflamed by external agendas. Washington’s pressure on both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in unrelated regional files has incentivized Abu Dhabi to respond by heightening tensions in Yemen to secure its foothold along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden—geopolitical areas seen ambitiously by Israel.

The UAE’s aggressive posture has led many to label it “the small Israel of the region,” given its alignment with Tel Aviv’s strategic maritime goals.

Hadhramaut’s future and the national imperative

Hadhramaut—long known for its scholarly heritage, trade networks, and cultural depth—had largely avoided the internal battlegrounds of the war’s early years. Today, however, Saudi Arabia and the UAE seek to militarize it, fragment its social fabric, and transform it into a contested zone of influence.

The warning issued by the Mahra Sit-In Committee resonated nationwide: any explosion in Hadhramaut will not remain contained within its borders. Instead, it will be used to justify efforts to detach the entire eastern region from the Yemeni homeland—an agenda that dovetails with broader colonial designs in the region.

Amid these perilous dynamics, one truth emerges unequivocally: the people of Hadhramaut are the weakest link in a conflict they did not choose. They face a bleak reality marked by competing rulers, foreign agendas, and predatory militias, all fighting for control of their oil, ports, and territory.

A unified nation against fragmentation

The 58th independence anniversary has become more than a historical commemoration—it is a renewed declaration of Yemen’s collective resolve to resist external domination and internal fragmentation alike. As the Saudi-UAE rivalry risks plunging Hadhramaut into destructive chaos, Yemenis across the country insist that “Hadhramaut is Yemeni in spirit and identity, and what threatens it threatens all of Yemen.”

In this volatile landscape, national unity and steadfast resistance remain the only viable path to safeguarding Yemen’s sovereignty, protecting its resources, and thwarting the regional schemes that seek to carve its land and exploit its people.