American forces, reinforced with many military vehicles and weapons, have arrived on October 23 at the headquarters of the Coastal Defence Brigade in Qarat al-Faras area, located between Hadhramaut and Shabwah province in eastern Yemen.
The move came after Saudi Arabia transferred one of the brigades led by Adel al-Masabi, who had sacrificed hundreds of people from the southern Yemeni provinces in defending Saudi lands on the front, beyond the border, according to local sources.
The sources stated that the coalition established a training camp for the so-called Shabwah Elite mercenary militia, including mercenaries from foreign countries in the Qarat al-Faras area, with direct support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, under the pretext of expelling the Islah Party (Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood) from the province.
The upcoming military operation is set to target the Islah authorities in the city of Ataq, the capital of Shabwah, before the three-month Saudi mediation deadline for the Emirati forces to leave Balhaf gas facility in the coastal Radhum district ends, the sources said.
The UAE, in coordination with Saudi Arabia, is seeking to replace the Islah forces that it used to ally with in the past, considering them to have become a threat to the UAE presence and its interests in both Shabwah in the coasts of Abyan province and the Gulf of Aden.
