UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON (VOP TODAY NEWS) — Separatist fighters on Tuesday surrounded two camps belonging to forces loyal to President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognized government in the southern province of Abyan, officials from both sides said.
The operation came after separatist fighters loyal to the “Southern Transitional Council” took control about 10 days ago on the city of Aden, the interim capital of the Yemeni government.
Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Iryani said in a tweet on Monday night that forces loyal to the pro-secessionist council in southern Yemen were besieging a special security camp in Zanzibar, the capital of Abyan province.
According to Iryani, the separatist forces demanded “surrender or storm the camp.”
“Two military positions have been besieged in a security move within the framework of the security belt,” NTC spokesman Nizar Haitham told AFP by telephone.
“So far these camps have not been neutralized or handed over.”
Troops loyal to the Southern Transitional Council also besieged another camp in the Kod between Aden and Abyan, a government security official said.
It was not known how many soldiers were in the besieged camps.
The Yemeni government strongly condemned what it called an “unjustified escalation”, warning of “weakening the mediation efforts” currently led by Saudi Arabia between the two sides since the battles of Aden.
Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hadrami said in a tweet on the account of the Yemeni Foreign Ministry website on Twitter: Much by siblings in Saudi Arabia. ”
Saudi Arabia has been the main military player in Yemen since 2015, when it began a military campaign against Houthi rebels close to Iran at the head of a coalition involving the United Arab Emirates, after taking control of large areas, including the capital Sanaa.
Southern separatists and Hadi’s government forces are fighting together in the alliance, part of a conflict that has put millions of people on the brink of starvation.
But despite fighting the rebels together, separatists and government forces are locked in a battle to consolidate influence in Aden, the capital of the former southern state before its union with the north in 1990 and the birth of a united Yemen.
Aden has witnessed fierce clashes between southern separatist forces and government forces this month, which ended with the separatists control the majority of government buildings and camps in the coastal city, the most important presidential palace.
Forty people were killed and 260 wounded in the fighting, according to the United Nations.
The “security belt” is the main southern force trained and armed by the United Arab Emirates, the main partner in the military alliance.
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