UAE-backed militias take over 1st military brigade in Mahra

MAHRA, Sept. 07 (YPA) – A first military brigade in Islah Party’s “First Military Region” fell on Thursday to the UAE-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC) militia in Mahra province, eastern Yemen.

Local sources familiar with said: “The commander of the “123rd Infantry Brigade”, located north of the city of Al-Ghaydah, Mahra provincial capital, Ahmed Mohammed Laqlam, announced his defection and joining the STC militia.”

Leader of Laqlam directed to take down the picture of the so-called President of the Riyadh-formed Presidential Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, and the flag of the Republic of Yemen, from his office, and to put a picture of the head of the “STC” Aidarous Al-Zubaidi.

The sources added that the STC’s allocated a budget of nearly one million dollars, to buy loyalties and pull the rug from under the Islah military leadership in the eastern provinces.

The defection of the “123rd Infantry Brigade” in the city of al-Ghaydah represented a treacherous stab at the heart of the sit-in committee against the US-British foreign presence in Mahra, heralding an upcoming security chaos among the community.

AA