Tensions rise among Yemen allies after separatist attack

 A senior official in Yemen's embattled government Thursday accused a southern separatist leader of "fomenting sedition" after his forces clashed with Yemeni troops near the presidential palace in Aden, as concerns rose about a new front in the country's devastating civil war.

In a statement carried by the official news agency, Interior Minister Ahmed el-Meseery called on the followers of separatist leader Hani Ben Braik to ignore his calls to overthrow the government, saying "they only aim at engendering war" and undermine the fight against Houthi rebels.

The Arab coalition has been battling the Iran-backed rebels since 2015 on behalf of the internationally recognized government, which is largely confined to the southern city of Aden. The stalemated war has killed tens of thousands of people and driven the country to the brink of famine.

There have long been tensions within the coalition between northerners who fled to the south during the Houthis' advance and southerners who once had their own state and want greater autonomy or outright independence.

The United Arab Emirates, a leading member of the coalition, has also been at odds with the government over its alleged alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood, a regional Islamist political movement the coalition views as a terrorist group. The UAE has lent support to the separatists and other factions that have clashed with government forces.

Those divisions came to a head Wednesday during the burial of a UAE-backed militia commander who was killed in a Houthi rocket attack last week. After laying him to rest in a cemetery nearby, his supporters marched on the presidential palace and clashed with troops stationed there. At least one presidential guard was killed and four people, including two civilians, were wounded.

Ben Braik, the deputy head of the so-called Southern Transitional Council, later called for the overthrow of the government, accusing it of serving the Brotherhood at the expense of the country.

Meseery, the interior minister, said the government received assurances from the coalition that they are opposed to such acts by the separatists.