Aidarus al-Zoubaidi
Aidarus Qassem Abdulaziz al-Zoubaidi is the current president and commander of the Southern Transitional Council and the de facto leader of the Southern Movement in Yemen. He previously served as the governor of the Aden province from December 2015 to April 2017.Biography
Al-Zoubaidi is a former military commander from the Dhale province who remained loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi during the Yemeni Civil War. He was appointed as Governor of Aden in early December 2015, after the previous one, Major General Jaafar Mohammed Saad, was assassinated in a car bombing. In early January 2016, he survived an assassination attempt by ISIL when a bomb exploded near by his convoy, and at least one bodyguard was killed.
He was fired on 27 April 2017 by President Hadi.
On May 3, major rallies were held in Aden to protest the decision of Hadi. One week later, Southern Transitional Council was formed, and some of the members were the governors of Dhale Governorate, Shabwah Governorate, Hadramaut Governorate, Lahij Governorate, Socotra, and Al Mahrah Governorate.
He is a member of the Southern Movement and President of the Southern Transitional Council.
On 29 January 2018, in the Battle of Aden, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi announced the state of emergency in Aden and that "the STC has begun the process of overthrowing Hadi’s rule over the South". In April 2020, the STC announced self-rule in southern Yemen.
