Report: Shabwa on a date with armed confrontations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia

SHABWA, June 25 (YPA) – Attention turns to the Saudi and Emirati actions in Shabwa governorate, keeping the governorate on a date with a decisive battle between Saudi-backed and UAE-backed factions.

On Saturday, Islah forces continued their military build-up in Shabwa province, southeastern Yemen.

Tribal sources said that new reinforcements from the Ataq axis forces, stationed on the outskirts of Marib province, arrived at Islah militants’ camps in the Jardan district, bordering the city of Ataq, where the leadership of the Emirati factions is stationed.

The new reinforcements, the second of their kind in less than a week, are part of broad Saudi moves to resolve the Shabwa file.

The coalition command is intensifying its military moves to oust the Emirati partner in Shabwa as a pressure card against the UAE’s efforts to penetrate the oil plateau.

On Saturday, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC),  launched a new campaign of raids in Shabwa province.

This came after Hassan Shumaila, a commander in the 21st Brigade affiliated with the STC, was shot dead by gunmen near the city of Ataq.

Local sources said that the Shabwa Defense Forces raided a number of citizens’ homes south of the city of Ataq, on charges of pursuing elements involved in the assassination of leader Shumaila.

Emirati faction groups also deployed a number of armored and military vehicles at the entrances and exits of the city, according to local sources in Ataq.

E.M