Yemen's UAE-backed separatists announced a two-year transition to independence Friday despite reporting 20 deaths in airstrikes from a Saudi-led coalition trying to roll back their weeks-long offensive across the country's south.

A separatist military official and medical sources reported 20 fighters dead in air raids on two military bases as the coalition also targeted an airport and other sites.

The bombardment and surprise independence bid follow weeks of tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the separatist Southern Transitional Council's (STC) land-grab.

Yemen, which was divided into North and South from 1967 to 1990, could again be split in two years if the STC's independence plan comes to fruition. It would call the new country "South Arabia".

STC president Aidaros Alzubidi said the transitional phase would include dialogue with Yemen's north -- controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels -- and a referendum on independence.

But he warned the group would declare independence "immediately" if there was no dialogue or if southern Yemen was attacked again.

"The Council calls on the international........

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