STC’s militia fails again to retake Shabwa oil fields

SHABWA, Sept. 29 (YPA) – A military campaign by Emirati-backed factions on Wednesday failed to regain control over  a number of oil fields in Shabwa province, southern Yemen.

This coincides with tribal gunmen taking control of oil wells in Usaylan District, in response to their demobilization from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s camps for sake of regional motives.

Informed sources said that the Shabwa Defense Forces, which are loyal to the STC, carried out a military operation in the past hours, in an attempt to regain control of the oil wells in the district of Usaylan, but retreated after the tribes of the directorate threatened to blow up a large-scale war against them.

The STC’s militias had earlier demobilized six battalions of their members from Bayhan and Usaylan tribes, in a move that provoked widespread indignation among the tribes, which considered the move a direct targeting of the people of Shabwa, and a start to the exclusion of their leaders from the scene.

E.M