Saudi Arabia has hinted to use Egyptian forces in the event that the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s militias commit any follies in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden in the coming weeks.
According to military sources, Rashad Al-Alimi, Chairman of the so-called “Presidential Leadership Council”, received the visiting Egyptian delegation led by Major General Mohamed Ismail Abdel Fattah at Al-Ma’ashiq Palace, amid welcomes for the expansion of military and security relations and cooperation.
Sources indicated that Al-Alimi reviewed the threats to his “Presidential Council” and imposed the achievement of peace efforts in Yemen, calling on Egypt to play an active role in supporting the so-called “legitimacy”.
Al-Alimi stressed the role of the Egyptian navy participating in protecting the shipping lane in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, the sources said.
Other sources said that the arrival of the Egyptian military delegation is a Saudi message to the UAE in Aden, after the crisis in relations with Abu Dhabi following accusations by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that his country received stabs from the back, especially recently in Sudan, and bin Zayed’s bias towards Ethiopia on the issue of the Renaissance Dam.
Moreover, the sources stated that the protocols of the Egyptian military visit to Aden, to carry out a major mission in coordination with Saudi Arabia in Aden during the coming period.
The visit of the Egyptian military delegation to Aden came one day after the Saudi ambassador to the government loyal to the coalition suddenly arrived in the city, after the UAE special committee “intelligence” took decisions to appoint two members of the council as vice presidents of the “STC”, including Abdul Rahman Al-Mahrami “Abu Zara”, the commander of the extremist Salafi factions Al-Amaliqa (Giants).
The Saudi-backed “Dara Al-Watan” forces, consist of extremist Salafist groups, took control over Al-Sha`ab city, amid continuous dispatch of military reinforcements through Al-Wadea land border crossing to Aden