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Pro-Saudi Yemeni government blames UAE for strikes that killed at least 30 troops

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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused the Emirati air force of attacking its troops Thursday as they were heading to the key southern port city of Aden to fight separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates. The airstrikes killed at least 30 government forces, a Yemeni commander said.

The development raises concerns about the future of a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since 2015 and adds another complex layer to the civil war that has ravaged the Arab world’s most impoverished country.

Infighting has raged for weeks between forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the southern separatists, backed by the UAE — all ostensibly allies in the coalition.

Col. Mohamed al-Oban, a commander of the government’s special forces in Abyan province, said the troops were on the road, headed from Abyan toward Aden on Thursday, when the strikes took place, killing at least 30.

He didn’t say who was behind them, saying only the planes were from the Saudi-led coalition. The UAE also maintains warplanes as part of the coalition.

Officials in the UAE declined to immediately comment.

Yemen’s foreign ministry tweeted a statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadrami, saying: “The government condemns the Emirati airstrike on government forces.”

“We hold the UAE fully responsible for this explicit extra-judicial targeting” of the government forces, the statement said, adding that the airstrikes also left several civilians dead but without providing a specific death toll.

In the statement, the Yemeni government also urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn the attacks.

Yemen’s civil war started in 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states intervened a year later to try and restore President Mansour Abed Rabbo Hadi to power.

The UAE is part of that coalition but it never fully threw its support behind Hadi, allegedly over his ties to Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood, choosing instead to train and support the separatist militias.

Yemen was split into two countries, the North and South Yemen, during much of the Cold War before unifying in 1990 but a separatist movement has continued in the south. The Brotherhood is a pan-Arab Islamist movement that has been designated as a terrorist group by several Arab governments, including the UAE.

Though rare, Thursday’s airstrikes were not the first time the Emirati planes struck government forces in Yemen, said Farea Al-Muslimi, a visiting researcher with London-based Chatham House.

In January 2018, an Apache helicopter belonging to the UAE hit two armored vehicles carrying government forces near the Aden airport during a similar bout of infighting between Hadi’s government and the separatists.

However, this was the first time the government in an “explicit and irrevocable” statement turned against the UAE, heralding further fractures in the Saudi coalition, Al-Muslimi said.

Thursday’s airstrikes also underscore the fragile nature of the Saudi-led coalition and could spell its doom, he added. “This is a natural ending for a coalition that actually never really existed,” said Al-Muslimi. “It was based on instant goals and the belief the war in Yemen would be won quickly.”

Thursday’s airstrikes came a day after Yemeni government forces pushed into Aden to try and retake the city from the UAE-backed separatists.

Earlier on Wednesday, government troops wrested back control of Zinjibar, the capital of neighboring Abyan province, from the separatists and headed toward Aden.

Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani said Wednesday that government forces also reclaimed Aden’s airport, the main hub for the country’s south, but the separatists denied that.

According to officials speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter with reporters, forces loyal to Hadi gained some ground at the Aden airport complex before the separatists forced them to retreat.

Videos showing separatist militia in control of the airport were posted on social media on Thursday by the Southern Transitional Council, the separatists’ commanding body.

The push by the government forces into Aden also underscored the seesaw nature of the fighting. Only weeks before, the separatists had gained much territory in southern Yemen, pushing government forces out of strategic cities and areas.

https://apnews.com/264cd865265348fab16b27fcf2b56b2d
 
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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s internationally recognized government accused the Emirati air force of attacking its troops Thursday as they were heading to the key southern port city of Aden to fight separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates. The airstrikes killed at least 30 government forces, a Yemeni commander said.

The development raises concerns about the future of a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since 2015 and adds another complex layer to the civil war that has ravaged the Arab world’s most impoverished country.

Infighting has raged for weeks between forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the southern separatists, backed by the UAE — all ostensibly allies in the coalition.

Col. Mohamed al-Oban, a commander of the government’s special forces in Abyan province, said the troops were on the road, headed from Abyan toward Aden on Thursday, when the strikes took place, killing at least 30.

He didn’t say who was behind them, saying only the planes were from the Saudi-led coalition. The UAE also maintains warplanes as part of the coalition.

Officials in the UAE declined to immediately comment.

Yemen’s foreign ministry tweeted a statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadrami, saying: “The government condemns the Emirati airstrike on government forces.”

“We hold the UAE fully responsible for this explicit extra-judicial targeting” of the government forces, the statement said, adding that the airstrikes also left several civilians dead but without providing a specific death toll.

In the statement, the Yemeni government also urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn the attacks.

Yemen’s civil war started in 2014 when Shiite Houthi rebels overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states intervened a year later to try and restore President Mansour Abed Rabbo Hadi to power.

The UAE is part of that coalition but it never fully threw its support behind Hadi, allegedly over his ties to Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood, choosing instead to train and support the separatist militias.

Yemen was split into two countries, the North and South Yemen, during much of the Cold War before unifying in 1990 but a separatist movement has continued in the south. The Brotherhood is a pan-Arab Islamist movement that has been designated as a terrorist group by several Arab governments, including the UAE.

Though rare, Thursday’s airstrikes were not the first time the Emirati planes struck government forces in Yemen, said Farea Al-Muslimi, a visiting researcher with London-based Chatham House.

In January 2018, an Apache helicopter belonging to the UAE hit two armored vehicles carrying government forces near the Aden airport during a similar bout of infighting between Hadi’s government and the separatists.

However, this was the first time the government in an “explicit and irrevocable” statement turned against the UAE, heralding further fractures in the Saudi coalition, Al-Muslimi said.

Thursday’s airstrikes also underscore the fragile nature of the Saudi-led coalition and could spell its doom, he added. “This is a natural ending for a coalition that actually never really existed,” said Al-Muslimi. “It was based on instant goals and the belief the war in Yemen would be won quickly.”

Thursday’s airstrikes came a day after Yemeni government forces pushed into Aden to try and retake the city from the UAE-backed separatists.

Earlier on Wednesday, government troops wrested back control of Zinjibar, the capital of neighboring Abyan province, from the separatists and headed toward Aden.

Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani said Wednesday that government forces also reclaimed Aden’s airport, the main hub for the country’s south, but the separatists denied that.

According to officials speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter with reporters, forces loyal to Hadi gained some ground at the Aden airport complex before the separatists forced them to retreat.

Videos showing separatist militia in control of the airport were posted on social media on Thursday by the Southern Transitional Council, the separatists’ commanding body.

The push by the government forces into Aden also underscored the seesaw nature of the fighting. Only weeks before, the separatists had gained much territory in southern Yemen, pushing government forces out of strategic cities and areas.

https://apnews.com/264cd865265348fab16b27fcf2b56b2d

Friendly fire sad fact of war zones.
I hope peace prevails there.
 
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UAE with a direct military strike against KSA proxy Hadi-regime fighters, wow.

Now the "coalition" are fighting each other!

UAE-backed STC are fully in control of Aden (supposed to be the heartland of the Hadi regime!), and these UAE strikes show that UAE will not let that change, even if they have to kill dozens of KSA-backed fighters.


I don't think this could get any worse for KSA, but UAE have played the game very well so far.
 
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UAE is also fighting Turkish backed fighters in Libya. Perhaps it is time for Turkey and Pakistan to put up a proposal to Saudi Arabia to absorb this small territory.

Recent American overtures to Iran plus the Emirates also continuing its relationship with Iran should tell a lot to Saudia.

Perhaps Saudis have been manipulated wrongly by someone to go after Qatar.
 
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UAE Are biting more than they can chew, how many countries are they directly interfering with? The king should remember those with glass houses, shouldn't throw stones.
 
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Mods plz delete my thread.

I think we're seeing the end of the war in Yemen.
 
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I think we're seeing the end of the war in Yemen.
What do you mean? Hadi and his regime are finished and KSA's quest to restore him to power in Sana'a has backfired hugely and is obviously never going to happen now. But that doesn't mean the war is finished.

Before it was African mercenaries + Saudis vs Yemeni (Houthis). Now it is STC vs Hadi's regime - a real civil war...
 
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