"We will return back to Aden by peace. If they want a war, we will return back to Aden by war. The Yemeni army is ready and able [to do that]", Maissari stated.
The government does not want the STC to "pretend that they defend the south", the minister said.
Interior Minister Ahmed Maissari added that the STC was "a political instrument" of the United Arab Emirates.
"We won’t sit and come to the table with the so-called transitional council anyway, this thing that everyone understands and knows. If the dialogue takes place, it will be with the United Arab Emirates under the supervision of Saudi Arabia", Maissari said.
Meanwhile, UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash expressed optimism about the meeting between the STC delegation and Yemen’s government in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
"We are looking forward with confidence and optimism to the success of the meeting in Jeddah between the government of Yemen and the STC to cooperate against the Houthi movement and double their efforts to confront them", Gargash tweeted on Wednesday.
نتطلع بثقة وتفاؤل إلى نجاح إجتماع جدة بين حكومة اليمن الشقيق والمجلس الانتقالي الجنوبي، وحدة الصف ضد الانقلاب الحوثي ومضاعفة الجهد في مواجهته هي الأولوية، والشكر والتقدير للملكة العربية السعودية الشقيقة على قيادة التحالف سياسيا وعسكريا بحرص وحنكة واقتدار.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) September 4, 2019
Gargash added that the cooperation between the government and the STC was a priority.
In mid-August, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) captured the Maashiq presidential palace in Aden, defeating their former allies from the government. The government took the city back but then lost control of it again.
Both the Saudi-led government and the STC are fighting the Houthi movement, while the United Arab Emirates is part of a coalition of mostly regional states that back the government in its conflict with Houthis.
