Pro-coalition military brigades get mutinied in Hadramout
HADRAMOUT, June 06 (YPA) -Three brigades of the forces of the “First Military Region” loyal to Islah Party got mutinied in the districts of Wadi Hadramout, eastern Yemen.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the brigade leadership prevented a committee assigned by the Ministry of Defense of the coalition-backed government to count weapons and equipment from entering the camp stores under various pretexts, amid accusations of rebellion by leaders loyal to the UAE.
The sources indicated that sharp disagreements broke out between the leaders of the First Military Region, heralding the explosion of the military situation among the soldiers, amid news of the departure of the Region’s commander, Saleh Timas, to the city of Aden.
During the past months, Saudi Arabia had prevented the UAE-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s factions from advancing towards the districts of Wadi Hadramout, in an attempt to replace the Saudi-formed Dara al-Watan forces instead of the First Military Region forces.
This came after Saudi Arabia also prevented Hadrami Elite” factions backed by the UAE from the spread in Al-Abr road and Al-Wadiah border crossing with its lands, considering a strategic depth for the Kingdom.
The Emirati-Saudi conflict has escalated in oil-rich Hadramout, amid extensive American, British and French moves in the southern and eastern provinces of Yemen, since the UAE imposed control over Al-Dhaba oil port and Al-Rayyan airport in the city of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramout in 2016, under the pretext of fighting Al-Qaeda elements, and closing the airport to city flights so far.
Last February, the Pentagon admitted through the Saudi Al-Hadath TV that it has two military bases affiliated with the CIA, one of which is in Mukalla city of Hadramout, eastern Yemen, without disclosing the other base.
The American and British forces are deployed at Al-Ghaydah Airport of Mahra province, and at the key Balhaf gas facility in Shabwa on the Arabian Sea, in addition to Al-Anad base in Lahj and the Gulf of Aden.
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