UAE deploys its militias in several areas of Socotra island

SOCOTRA, Nov. 3 (YPA) – Dozens of UAE military vehicles and crews were deployed on Tuesday in various parts of the occupied island of Socotra.

According to local sources, the UAE-backed “Southern Transitional Council” (STC)’s militias were deployed on board a number of armoured vehicles and military pickup vehicles in areas near the port of Socotra and Qulensya district.

The sources added that the STC pushed military vehicles to areas where the forces of the so-called  Saudi Duty 808 forces” are present.

According to the sources, the sudden deployment of the STC’s militias came after the arrival of a new intelligence cell of the UAE, led by the retired Emirati officer Mohammed Ali Arhama at Hadibo airport of Socotra Island.

Arhama’s cell joined the larger Emirati cell headed by the delegate Khalfan Al-Mazrouei, to carry out special tasks against the so-called “808 Duty Forces” of Saudi Arabia, according to the sources.

The sources explained that, after their arrival, the cell members met with social figures and leaders of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) loyal to the UAE, in addition to leaders from the General People’s Congress Party on the island.

The UAE forces went to fund demonstrations and protests against the Saudi presence on the island, and inciting their militias to engage in conflict  with  Saudi duty forces  that control the airport and the port of Socotra.

The port’s director, Riad Saeed Suleiman, was kidnapped yesterday by transitional militias and placed in an Emirati prison on the island, after he objected to the entry of suspicious UAE  ships into the port.

Earlier on Tuesday, head of the mass organizations Department in the Southern National Alliance’s branch, Dr. Ahmed Salem Saleh, was kidnapped from his workplace at the College of Education and taken to an unknown destination.

E.M