UAE replaces its troops inside Shabwa’s Balhaf gas facility

SHAWBA, Aug. 21 (YPA) – The UAE replaced the leadership of its forces, which are based in the Balhaf gas facility, in the oil-rich province of Shabwa, in eastern Yemen.

Sources familiar with the matter reported that the UAE has worked during the past days to completely change the leadership of its forces and the administrative staff to lead its forces in the facility located in Rudum district on the Arabian Sea.

The sources confirmed that the leadership of the new Emirati forces began its work to meet with its allied factions, including the forces of Shabwa Defense and Al-Amaliqa, noting that it promised several notables and sheikhs of Radum district to include their names in the monthly reward lists in order to gain their loyalty, after they reached a dead end with the previous leadership in many issues.

The sources indicated that the targeting of the Balhaf facility last month came within the framework of the disputes between the sons of Radum and the Emirati leadership, pointing out that the new leadership promised the sheikhs and local authorities to implement service projects, in addition to recruiting dozens of the district’s sons.

The change of Emirati leaders is in anticipation of Saudi moves that seek to deploy the “Dare al-Watan factions in a number of Shabwa districts, they added.

The UAE has imposed control over the Balhaf gas facility since 2016 and made it a joint military base with the US forces that left Afghanistan during the year 2020, in addition to the presence of French forces in the facility, in which the “French Total Company”, the largest liquefied gas production company, which owns 39% of the share of Balhaf firm.
AA