New Delhi, Jan. 7 -- A council fighting against Yemen's Houthi rebels said Wednesday it had expelled the leader of a separatist movement and charged him with treason after he reportedly declined to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks.

The statement carried by SABA news agency controlled by anti-Houthi forces is the latest escalation between Saudi-backed forces and the Southern Transitional Council, which had been backed by the United Arab Emirates. It also further complicates the future of Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country riven by one of the Mideast's worst conflicts for over a decade.

The STC said leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi remained in Aden. It also accused Saudi Arabia of launched airstrikes in Yemen's al-Dhale governorate, causin...