YEMEN Press Agency

UAE sends military reinforcements to Hadramout

HADRAMOUT, Sept. 03 (YPA) – The UAE pushed military reinforcements to Hadramout province, east of Yemen.

According to local sources, the UAE reinforcements, with dozens of allied militias, were sent to the governorate, in efforts to detonate the situation militarily in a number of southern provinces.

The sources indicated that the leader, Haitham Qassem, loyal to Tarik Saleh or called (Tarik Afash), backed by the UAE, arrived on a military plane from Abu Dhabi, to the camp of the Ba Rashid Brigade of the militias of the UAE-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Haitham Qassem began his duties from Ba Rashid camp of the city of Mukalla and formed a military operations room with the goal of controlling Wadi Hadramout from the forces loyal to the Saudi-backed exiled Hadi government.

The arrival of Haitham Qassem has coincided with the control of the “Hadrami Elite” militia loyal to the UAE, over one of the most important areas on the outskirts of Bir Ahmed in Hadramout, in an indication that threatens to explode the situation militarily.

According to the sources, most of the Barashid camp’s recruits belong to Dhalea governorate and Radfan, in which they control a number of vital areas and facilities in Hadramout, including Al-Rayyan International Airport.

On the same level, the sources revealed that two battalions of Tarik Saleh’s forces arrived at “Bir Ahmed” camp in Aden city after they being sent from the western coast, to join the Barsahid camp in Hadramout.

These moves came one day after the sheikhs and tribes loyal to the STC opened Ajzar Aqabat in Amad district of Wadi Hadramout, after it was closed for more than five years.

AA