A number of officers and members of the so-called Amaliqa Brigades, a pro-UEA mercenary faction active on Yemen’s west coast, were killed during infighting in the outskirts of Al-Khokhah, Hodeidah province.
Local sources said that clashes broke out between the forces of the 2nd Alamaliqa Brigade and other mercenaries known as the “Guardians of the Republic”.
The sources pointing out that among the dead were leaders of the Almaliqa Brigade, most notably Brigadier General Khaled Qahtan and Brigadier General Salem Al-Daawadi, along with several others.
These clashes are an extension of previous battles between the two sides that began in 2018, coinciding with the start of the UAE use of mercenary leader Tariq Saleh, leader of the Guardians of the Republic, instead of southern Yemeni factions on the west coast Frontline.
But the intensity of the confrontation has escalated recently, as the UAE pushes Tariq Afash, also known as Tariq Saleh, to lead the scene on the west coast as part of its efforts to find a foothold by creating its own territory along the coastal strip of Yemen, which extends from the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait to the southern outskirts of Hodeidah, enabling Abu Dhabi to control the most important international shipping line through the second most important international strait in the world.
