15 UAE-backed recruits kidnapped in Shabwah

SHABWAH, Aug. 29 (YPA) – Tribal sources in Shabwah on Sunday said that contact with about 15 recruits in the UAE-baked militias stationed in the Balhaf facility,  has been lost, likely to be kidnapped, Yemen News Portal reported.

The recruits were stationed on mobile patrols in the vicinity of the Balhaf facility when they disappeared altogether, the sources said.

This follows tensions in the oil province after UAE forces confiscated weapons belonging to the Islah factions and the latter stepped up to besiege the  Balhaf facility .

Activists  on social media have reported that dozens of members of the so-called “Shabwani elite”, who are guarding UAE forces in Balhaf in the Ayn Bamabad area were arrested .

The activists called on “Shabwani elite” fighters to avoid walking down this road due to the arrests, which they described as retaliatory and in response to seizure of arms shipments en route to Shabwah from the Somali coast, where a Turkish base is based.

The arrests followed the withdrawal of Islah factions from the Balhaf area after they threatened to storm the facility, prompting UAE forces to intensify their sorties  over  the provincial skies and threaten to target them.

E.M