STC’s leader vows to abandon Riyadh if continues allying with Islah militisa

ADEN, Feb. 24 (YPA) – A leader in the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) accused Saudi Arabia of allying with al-Islah party, a Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, promising to abandon Riyadh if its policy continues.

Ahmed Omar Bin Farid, head of the STC’s Foreign Relations Department in Europe, said the Saudi-led coalition would lose southerners because of its silence on Islah’s practices and its tampering with the south, despite Saudi claims that the Brotherhood was banned.

“Did the Riyadh agreement become a cover for the absurdity of what he described as “Islah militias” in Shabwah and elsewhere, and whether the coalition was unable to curb the actions of “legitimacy” in the south? He asked.

Aden has been  witnessing unprecedented tension between STC and Saudi forces, against the backdrop of the latter’s insistence on implementing the supplements of the Riyadh military agreement, most notably the dissolution of the UAE armed formations and their integration into the Hadi’s defense and interior ministries.

According to observers, the STC’s threat has only one content, which is withdrawing all the southern forces stationed on the west coast, or on the Saudi border.

The coalition relies on tens of thousands of southern youth in its battles there, having succeeded in recruiting them through the STC’s brokers, taking advantage of their difficult living conditions.

E.M