Saudi-backed forces continue their advance towards Bab al-Mandab

LAHJ, Feb. 15 (YPA) – The Saudi-backed “Dara Al-Watan” forces continued on Wednesday their advance towards the positions of the pro-UAE armed factions in the coastal strip of Lahj province, southern Yemen.

This comes one day after the pro-Saudi forces took control of the strategic “Kharaz” mountain in the center of Al-Madhareba district, and expelled the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militia members from it, in the first confrontations with them Tuesday.

Media sources said that units of the “Dera Al-Watan” forces, which were recently established by Saudi Arabia, deployed in the southern regions of the Al-Madhareba district, which is close to Ras al-Ara area.

The recent developments come in light of Saudi efforts to deploy the recruits of the “Dera Al-Watan” forces from Bab al-Mandab to al-Buraiqa district of Aden province, southern Yemen, as part of a Saudi plan to curtail the role of the UAE and its affiliated militias in the areas of Yemen controlled by the Saudi-led coalition.

On Tuesday, the STC sent a strong threatening message to Saudi Arabia through the council’s deputy secretary-general, Fadl Al-Jaadi, who called on Saudi Arabia to absorb the reality, indicating in a tweet on “Twitter” platform that “the south of today is different from the south of yesterday.”

Al-Jaadi confirmed in his tweet that “the STC has claws and fangs to defend itself,” describing the STC opponents as “idiots.”

Observers had warned of the coalition continuing to booby-trap the Yemeni coasts near the Bab al-Mandab Strait with extremist groups, making matters worse, along with the extremist Salafist groups that make up the factions loyal to the UAE in southern Yemen.

YPA