UAE seeks to resolve battle in Yemen’s Hadramout with help of Libyan commander

HADRAMOUT, June 11 (YPA) – The UAE is seeking the help of the Libyan commander, Khalifa Haftar, to resolve the battle with Islah militants in Hadramout province, east of Yemen.

Sources familiar with the matter said that Libyan soldiers affiliated with the Libyan commander, Khalifa Haftar, loyal to the UAE, arrived last week in Hadramout, in support of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces to confront the Islah-run First Military Region.

The sources indicated that the ship arrived two days ago at the port of Mukalla and was unloaded and delivered to the headquarters and camps controlled by the UAE forces and the STC.
According to the sources, the UAE provided its forces in Hadramout with a helicopter.

There is a military mobilization from outside Hadramout of the STC to Barsheed camp and other camps affiliated with the UAE, the sources added.

In early June, an Emirati arms shipment arrived aboard a military ship at the port of Mukalla.
A senior journalist in the STC militias, Adel Al-Maduri, published pictures of trucks that load heavy artillery of the “automatic” type, to train in one of the militias’ bases in Shabwa.

He said on Twitter that the weapons had recently arrived from the Emirates, and that they were allocated for the battle of the oil plateau in Hadramout.

Earlier in the day, the UAE announced that it had provided its loyal factions in Shabwa with a new batch of equipment, including 60 four-wheel drive vehicles.

The arrangements indicate that the UAE will move towards resolving the battle of Hadramout militarily, especially in light of the continuing differences over some files with Saudi Arabia in the oil-rich province.

AA