Yemen forces take separatist army camp
Houthi drones intercepted
SANAA, Yemen, Aug 24, (Agencies): Yemeni military officials say forces loyal to the country’s internationally recognized government have wrested control of a military camp from a separatist militia backed by the United Arab Emirates just outside a key southern city.
They say government forces seized control on Saturday of the Elite Force militia’s camp, west of the city of Ataq, the capital of oil-rich Shabwa province.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media. The camp’s takeover came a day after government forces pushed the Elite Force out of Ataq.
The UAE-trained militia is part of the Southern Transitional Council, which launched an offensive earlier this month to take strategic southern areas from government forces, including the city of Aden and nearby Abyan province.
Spokesman of Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen Col Turki AlMalki, said Saturday that coalition forces managed to intercept and down drones launched by Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia towards civilian objects in Khamis Mushayt and Jazan, Saudi Aabia.
According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Colonel Al-Maliki explained that all attempts by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia to launch drones are foiled and the coalition takes all operational procedures and best practices of rules of engagement to deal with these drones to protect civilians, noting that repeated terrorist attempts confirms the criminality of Iran’s proxies in the region. It also confirms the losses of its terrorist elements, which throws them every day in a losing battle, causing them a state of social and popular discontent.
The Coalition to implement deterrent measures against these terrorist militias to neutralize and destroy these capabilities in strict accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules.
The southern separatists declared a ceasefire in their clashes with government forces in the oil-producing province of Shabwa after two days of fighting.
“The Southern Transitional Council (STC) calls upon all parties in the Shabwa governorate to exercise restraint and abide by the ceasefire called for by the Arab coalition,” the council said in a statement early Saturday. The council also called on its forces to remain in their positions and maintain control over the institutions and property they overtook.
However, it warned against any attacks on the Saudi-led coalition forces.
The United Arab Emirates-backed separatists earlier this month took over the southern port city of Aden, the interim seat of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, and last week extended their control to neighbouring Abyan. Both sides are part of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthi group that ousted the government of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014.