Counter-terror forces and civilians hit by blast in Aden
▶ A soldier and woman killed after suicide bombers attack sites in Yemeni port city
A member of Aden’s elite counter-terrorism forces and a female civilian were killed yesterday when two suicide car bombers attacked the entrance of a military base and a checkpoint near the headquarters of the Southern Transitional Council.
Many more were injured when the bombers blew up their vehicles in the Gold Mohur area of Aden’s Al Tawahi district at 5.20pm.
The exact number of wounded was not clear.
Two other attackers wearing explosive belts had tried to climb over the external gate of the military base to reach the inside but were shot dead by guards before they could blow themselves up.
Shops and houses were severely damaged in the attack, while the force of the blasts shattered windows in the STC’s headquarters.
The secessionist body, which is based in Aden, is calling for an independent southern Yemen.
The southern port city is also home to the internationally recognised government of Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi. Mr Hadi’s government was forced to flee there after the Houthi rebels captured the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014.
Pro-Hadi forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition are fighting the Houthi rebels and allied fighters for full control of the country. Extremist groups, including affiliates of Al Qaeda and ISIL, have taken advantage of the conflict to expand their presence in southern Yemen.
An estimated 46 Houthis were killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes on rebel targets along Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, state news agency Wam reported yesterday.
The UAE is a leading member of the coalition.
The targets struck included farms used by the Houthis east of the area of Al Jarahi, as well as rebel vehicles carrying reinforcements to the militants in Al Jarahi.
The coalition strikes came after five missiles fired by the rebels at pro-government troops on Friday were intercepted.
The Houthis fired the missiles at pro-government troops near the city of Marib but all the projectiles were shot down by the air defence network operated by the coalition, said Khaled Al Karni of the Yemeni army.
Marib city is 173 kilometres to the north-east of Sanaa, the Houthi-held Yemeni capital.
The missiles were fired after pro-government forces, backed by the coalition, pushed back an offensive by the Houthis.
The aim had been to take back control of military sites in the Serwah area of Marib province that were liberated by the army last week.
But the Houthi offensive failed as government troops repelled the militants who tried to break into the area.
Houthi rebels besieged Marib for months in 2015 after capturing Sanaa, but they were pushed back in fierce clashes with local tribesmen aided by the coalition.
Marib faces the constant threat of Houthi rockets, hundreds of which have been launched toward the city.
The world was a given a clarifying insight into the conflict in Yemen on Friday, when Houthi militias fired five missiles from Sanaa in the direction of Marib, a province which lies 173 kilometres northeast of the capital. The missiles were intercepted by the air defence systems supplied by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition – of which the UAE is a key member – that is fighting to restore Yemen’s legitimate government. The projectiles were intended to decimate the Yemeni forces who, supported by the Arab coalition, had earlier in the day pushed back an offensive to take back control of areas liberated from their grip.
To get a sense of what is at stake there, consider the tale of two cities. Sanaa, once a thriving city, has become desolate and oppressive ever since the Houthis seized it 2014 and dislodged Yemen’s internationally recognised president. Marib, the capital of Marib province that was once home to a mere 350,000 people, is now a bustling and prosperous city that hosts 1.5 million people. Sanaa suffocates in the shadow of the Houthis. Marib blossoms under the protection of the Arab coalition: Yemeni business people, doctors, professors and refugees, driven from their homes by the Houthis, have found a new lease of life there. A territory that was once a stronghold of Al Qaeda is today a place of possibility. It is the Arab coalition’s unflinching support for the brave Yemenis striving to regain control of their country that accounts for Marib’s prosperity in a land ravaged by the Houthis and their backers. If the Houthis had their way, Marib would resemble the rest of Yemen: a barren dependency that serves as a launching pad for Iranian aggression.
But thanks to the Arab coalition, the rest of Yemen is slowly but surely following the trajectory of Marib. Over the past week, Al Qaeda was dealt a fatal blow by the Arab coalition’s fighter jets in Wadi Al Masini in Hadramaut. Yemeni forces secured large quantities of ammunition that would have been used to deliver death and destruction. Soon, normal life will return to places that have suffered for too long under militancy and extremism. The World Health Organisation, supported by Emirates Red Crescent, has already begun distributing medical aid to 10 provinces in Yemen. As the pathway to a peaceful and prosperous Yemen begins gradually to open up, it is important to remember the service of countless individuals that enabled this progress. Members of the the UAE’s Armed Forces have bravely sacrificed their lives for Yemen’s security, without ever wavering from their commitment. The third Union Fortress demonstration of the Armed Forces in Al Ain yesterday was an occasion to remember that their sacrifices shall not have been in vain.