The Saudi Foreign Ministry urged Yemen’s government and the STC to implement the Riyadh Agreement.

The United States implored Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the secessionist Southern Transitional Council to immediately implement a peace deal brokered last November by Saudi Arabia.

“The United States supports the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to facilitate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement,” the US Embassy in Yemen said on Twitter. The statement urged feuding factions to “overcome their differences and implement the agreement without delay in the interest of all Yemenis.”

The Saudi Foreign Ministry previously urged Yemen’s government and the STC to implement the Riyadh Agreement and put the country’s “national interest first.”

The call from the United States echoing Riyadh’s plea comes when tensions continue to escalate between the government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), regional media reported.

The Aden al-Ghad reported that STC Security Belt fighters closed the Presidential Palace and prevented ministers from meeting there.

The meeting was to include the ministers of education, higher education and health to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, Yemen’s Al-Masdar News reported.

The website earlier reported the arrival of STC reinforcements to Aden’s western district of Bir Ahmed and near the palace.

A senior coalition commander reportedly returned to Saudi Arabia for consultations after forces loyal to the STC refused to hand the airport over to Saudi-trained forces.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition played down the spat.

The Riyadh Agreement “contributed to the return of normalcy” to Aden, coalition spokesman Saudi Colonel Turki al-Malki told Al Arabiya. He denied the existence of “any rift between the STC and the coalition.”

“We are trying to revive projects and investments to rebuild Aden, rehabilitate the airport and develop the port there,” Malki said, while blaming reports of continued tensions on “ill-intentioned media.”