UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON (VOP TODAY NEWS) — The latest attacks were claimed by Ansar al-Sharia, the local branch of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The attack led to the killing of at least 17 elements of those forces and wounding more than a dozen others, and the control of “al-Qaeda” on the camp, before being restored by the “security belt”, after fierce confrontations, according to security sources.
The attack came hours after two simultaneous attacks in the southern provincial capital Aden on Thursday morning.
The first attack was a double drone and a ballistic missile, and targeted the camp “evacuation”, during the graduation ceremony of military courses for the Yemeni army, killing 25 soldiers, in addition to the fall of an unspecified number of wounded.
The attack was claimed by Ansar Allah (Houthis), which has been fighting pro-government forces and the Arab coalition supporting it, and has controlled provinces including the capital Sanaa since September 2014.
The UAE is the second most prominent country in a Saudi-led Arab military alliance, which has been carrying out operations in Yemen since March 2015 in support of government forces against the Houthis, backed by Iran.
The other attack Thursday was adopted by the organization “Daesh”, a bombing targeted the police station, “Sheikh Osman” Aden, and killed 13 soldiers, besides the presence of wounded.
The UAE has taken the lead in southern Yemen and began in July to reduce the number of troops in Yemen by withdrawing some of its forces from many areas, which it called “redeployment” away from the strategic province of Hodeidah (west) on the Red Sea.
“The coalition is preparing for the next phase with its political and military tools and a determination to achieve its strategic objectives,” said Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
** Iranian Emirati yarn
The escalating pace of attacks against UAE-backed forces in Yemen is linked by observers to a meeting in Iran on Tuesday that brought together the commander of the UAE Coast Guard, Mohammad Ali Musleh al-Ahbabi, and his Iranian counterpart, Qasem Rezaei.
The meeting came despite the existence of chronic controversial files, where relations between Abu Dhabi and Tehran are constantly strained; Last.
The visit of Ahbabi, the first of its kind in six years, came amid rising tensions in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States and its Western and Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia, accuse Iran of targeting commercial ships and oil installations in the Gulf waters and endangering maritime navigation, a charge Tehran denies.
Following the visit, an official at the UAE Foreign Ministry, the Gulf’s closest country to Saudi Arabia, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.
Before that, the commander of the Iranian border guards, Qasem Rezaei, said that Iran and the UAE enjoy deep historical relations.
That spinning between Abu Dhabi and Tehran was seen by observers as an abandonment of the UAE by its ally Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s neighbor.
The Arab coalition says it aims to topple the coup and restore the legitimacy of Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
This satisfaction moved to Sana’a, where the Houthi group expressed its satisfaction with the results of the UAE military delegation’s visit to Tehran, and its meeting with Iranian military leaders.
“The UAE’s message from Iran is a positive one,” said Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, a member of the group’s so-called political council.
** Houthi messages
According to Adnan Hashim, a journalist and researcher in the Gulf and Iranian affairs, “the current situation is sending messages from the Houthis that the war is continuing and everything can be targeted.
Marib Ward, a writer and political analyst, that the recent Houthi attack “comes eight months after an attack on them targeted a military parade at the base of the province of Lahj (south).”
The “Roses” of Anatolia: “It seems to be a message from the Houthis to their supporters and opponents that they are able to reach the south by drones and missiles.”
As for the timing of the attacks, he considered that “raises questions, especially as they come in light of the change in the UAE’s foreign policy towards Tehran, after holding a meeting of the coastguard of the two countries.”
He continued: “The attacks appear to exploit the Houthi atmosphere, especially after the announcement of Abu Dhabi partial withdrawal of its forces from Yemen.”
He went on to say that the attack was aimed at “pressuring the allies of the UAE in the Transitional Council (southern separatist) and the security belt forces, to dialogue with them on a certain formula, before Abu Dhabi abandoned them, and lose their influence in the scene.”
Fate of the Allies
Yassin al-Tamimi, a journalist and political analyst, said that the attack on the evacuation camp “came in the context of re-adapting the security belt forces, the strike force on which the UAE relied on to impose its influence in the interim capital, at the expense of the legitimate authority.”
But Tamimi stressed in an interview with Anatolia that “the UAE will not overload these forces, and it is only a rough change in the leadership, which was linked to a series of dirty operations carried out by the UAE in Aden and the rest of the southern provinces and targeted figures working within the project of the Yemeni state.”
He added that those “dirty operations were carried out in the context of a convulsive UAE speech and a sharp polarization specifically directed against the Muslim Brotherhood.”
This is what Hashim agreed with saying that “the UAE will not currently abandon the security belt forces, but increased support for its militias in Yemen, since it talked about its withdrawal from the confrontation of the Houthis.”
He added that “the Iranian / UAE rapprochement affects the Houthis, but it will not affect, at least for now, Abu Dhabi’s ambitions in southern Yemen, especially in Aden and Socotra.”
** Mixing the leaves
“There are question marks about what is meant to the south as a basis for legitimacy in the coming period,” he said.
He asked: “Is there any direction to use the paper of terrorism for political purposes and mix the papers on legitimacy and Saudi Arabia, which sent a number of soldiers to Aden and a brigade of the army to Abyan and summoned the Yemeni Interior Minister to Riyadh to understand with him on the security situation in the liberated areas (?).”
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