YEMEN Press Agency

High ranking military commander defects from Saudi-led coalition’s ranks

SANAA, July 10 (YPA) – Another military commander joined thousands who preceded him to withdraw from the ranks of the coalition, defected from the so-called “156 Brigade” in the Yatamah area in Jawf province and back to the capital Sana’a and joining the army and popular committees to confront Saudi-led coalition.

Lieutenant Colonel Faisal Ahmed Mohammed al-Afif, a security and intelligence officer, declared his withdrawal from the ranks of Saudi-led coalition and came back to Sanaa, taking advantage of general amnesty.

Afif attributed his withdrawal from the ranks of the coalition to what he termed “being deceived by people who are not honest”.

“I am now with those who are defending the country,” he said in a press statement on his arrival in Sanaa.

Colonel Faisal explained that he was welcome to return “and his return was facilitated after contacting telephone number that the Ministry of Defense assigned for those who want to return from the coalition’s ranks to the national side.”

He Revealed that ” more than 215 fighters will defect from the aggression’s ranks and the many others would follow them.”
“Most fighters want to go back, but there is propaganda that the they will be harmed and imprisoned,” he said.

“We have proven that these propaganda are unfounded,” Colonel Faisal Al-Afif concluded his statement.

The withdrawal of lieutenant Colonel Faisal Ahmed Mohammed al-Afif from the ranks of the coalition and his arrival in the capital Sana’a came days after the withdrawal of Col. Abdul Majeed Abu Hatem, appointed by the exiled Hadi as Deputy governor of Sana’a Governorate, from the coalition ranks , and came back to the capital Sanaa.

E.M