SUMMARY

STC (Southern Transitional Council) was a secessionist organization, active in southern Yemen. It was a member of the Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), formerly called the Forces of Hadi, the internationally recognized government of Yemen, for much of its existence. It occasionally splintered to fight the PLC (see the Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council - STC conflict), at which times it would also fight AQAP (al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula as an independent actor. Most fighting between AQAP and the STC is recorded in the AQAP - Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council dyad.

In 2022, STC conducted a series of coups against Islah-governed provinces in southern Yemen, thus taking over security in areas with a strong AQAP presence, leading to clashes between them and AQAP. Much of the AQAP - Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council has since then been with STC-aligned groups within the PLC. In 2025, STC splintered from the Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council. AQAP took advantage of the chaos to step up its attacks on STC while they were independent and fighting the Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council, leading to the conflict being active for the first time.