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Yemen presidential council chief says pro-Saudi forces regain province from separatists
Rashad al-Alimi said forces had successfully retaken positions in the resource-rich Hadramout province, which borders Saudi Arabia
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The leader of Yemen’s presidential council said on Saturday that pro-Saudi forces had retaken control of the resource-rich province of Hadramout, recently seized by the UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC).
Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, said in a statement that Saudi-backed National Shield forces had achieved “record success” in “retaking all military and security positions in the province” bordering Saudi Arabia after the operation was launched on Friday.
Southern separatists in Yemen, meanwhile, said Saudi warplanes carried out new air strikes on Saturday on a military camp in the port city of Mukalla and other areas where their forces are stationed, as Saudi-backed forces moved to retake the city.
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There was no immediate Saudi comment. It was the latest direct intervention by Saudi Arabia, which in recent weeks has bombed the STC and struck what is said was a shipment of Emirati weapons destined for it.
The Saudi strikes hit Barshid Brigade camp west of Mukalla in Hadramout, one of two governorates seized last month by the STC, according to the group’s AIC satellite news channel.
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Yemen has been engulfed in civil war for more than a decade, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels controlling much of the north and a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised government in the south. But coalition member the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also supports the separatists, who call for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.
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