New batch of pro-Saudi armed factions arrive in Shabwa

SHABWA, June 05 (YPA) – Saudi Arabia sent on Wednesday the first batch of the so-called Dare al-Watan forces, which received training in Saudi camps during the past months, to the UAE-controlled Shabwa province, east of Yemen.

Sources familiar with the matter said the Saudi moves to deploy those forces in Shabwa come in conjunction with their deployment in the city of Mukalla, the center of Hadramout, and the rest of the coastal areas in Qusayʽir, Al-Deis area, and Brum Mayf’ah, which are adjacent to Shabwa.

The sources explained that the Saudi military movements have created a state of discomfort for the leadership of the Emirati forces present at Al-Rayyan Airport in Mukalla, which prompted the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s leaders in Hadramout’s Al-Sahel and Al-Wadi districts to issue statements rejecting the Saudi deployment in those areas.

The UAE would push the STC factions to confront Saudi movements on the Hadramout coast, and to curb its movement in the areas of Shabwa, where armed factions loyal to the UAE, al-Amaliqa forces or Giants, have been controlled, since the beginning of 2022.

Activists loyal to the STC accused the leadership of the Saudi forces of returning Islah Party militants to Shabwa amid their demands to expel the party-run “First Military Zone” forces from the Wadi Hadramout districts.

This comes after the Saudi-formed Forces of Dare al-Watan imposed its control over various areas in Lahj province, south of Yemen, surrounding the city of Aden from the northwestern side.

AA