STC militias reinforce deployment in Ataq city

SHABWAH, Jul.06 (YPA) – Military factions affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) have reinforced their deployment in Ataq, the administrative center of Shabwah province, southern Yemen.

This came a few days after the STC militias took over the most important security files in the rich-oil province, in conjunction with the appointment of its most prominent leaders as head of the counter-terrorism faction.

Informed sources confirmed that joint patrols of the STC and the Shabwah Defense Forces deployed during the past hours, in the ports and streets of the city of Ataq.

For the first time in years, the Islah special security forces, which were recently removed from the province, were not participating in the security patrols, the sources said.

The STC’s factions are seeking to tighten their grip on Shabwah, securing a supply line to the oil plateau, which is moving to topple it completely in the coming days.

These developments coincide with the continued march of STC forces on the positions of Islah forces in an attempt to expel them once and for all from the southern provinces.

E.M