Pro-Hadi Forces, UAE-Backed Militants Clash in Yemen’s Abyan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Renewed clashes erupted between forces loyal to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and UAE-backed militants in Abyan governorate, south-east of Yemen.
An RT correspondent said the clashes erupted one day after the pro-Hadi forces brought reinforcements from Ma’rib governorate to the coastal city of Shakra.
The clashes, which included exchanges of artillery and missile strikes, are the fiercest since the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement in June.
In late July, the UAE-backed separatists with the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) gave up on the self-rule they declared in April in return for representation in a new Yemeni government to be formed within 30 days.
The STC’s announcement deepened the rifts in the already-divided Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in a military campaign since 2015 to seize the Sana’a government from Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and re-install Hadi there.
Hadi resigned in 2014 and later fled to the Saudi capital, prompting the Houthi movement to take state affairs into its own hands in the absence of an effective government in Sana’a.
Besides running the state from Sana’a, the Houthi movement, backed by Yemeni armed forces, has been defending the country against the Saudi-led aggression.
Over 100,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the war in the past five years, according to some figures.
The war — which is accompanied by a crippling blockade — has also destroyed, damaged and shut down Yemen’s infrastructure, including a large number of hospitals.