MUKALLA (AFP) — Yemen’s Hadramawt province is launching an operation to “peacefully” take back military sites after a sweeping advance by United Arab Emirates-backed separatists, its governor said on Friday.

Salem Al-Khanbashi made the announcement shortly after he was also appointed to lead the Saudi-supported National Shield forces in resource-rich Hadramawt, bordering Saudi Arabia.

“This operation is not a declaration of war, nor an attempt to escalate tensions,” Khanbashi was cited as saying in a statement by the official Saba Net news agency.

“This operation does not target any political or social group, nor does it target civilians,” he added.

The secessionist Southern Transitional Council forces’ march through Hadramawt and neighboring Mahra, bordering Oman, has escalated tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, rival powerbrokers in Yemen’s government-run areas.

The wealthy Gulf powers formed the backbone of a military coalition aimed at dislodging the Iran-backed Houthi rebels after they forced the government out of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and seized Yemen’s most populated areas.

After a brutal, decade-long civil war, the Houthis remain in place and the Saudis and Emiratis are backing different factions in the government-controlled territories.