The UAE has taken new military moves to counter the Saudi escalation in Shabwah governorate, southern Yemen, informed sources said on Sunday.
The sources indicated that more than 50 military vehicles belonging to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s factions arrived in the city of Ataq, under the pretense of securing the city and the directorates of the province.
This came less than 48 hours after the Islah forces quickly transferred the 63rd, 19th, and 21st Brigades and the Al-Nasr Brigade from the Safer area of Ma’rib to the outskirts of Shabwah amid news of Saudi directives to prepare for an attack on the center of the Emirati factions in the oil province.
The sources pointed out that units of the UAE-backed factions conducted military exercises with live ammunition in their camps in the city, in preparation for an upcoming battle against the Islah forces.
The developments come in the context of the intensification of the Emirati-Saudi conflict in the oil region, and its repercussions on the rest of the southern Yemeni governorates, where both parties of the coalition seek to impose control and influence at the expense of the others.
