Business for Peace Award

Fighting in Abyan governorate continues as anti-Houthi forces advance

Published on 8 April 2015 in News
Ali Ibrahim Al-Moshki (author)

Ali Ibrahim Al-Moshki


hide
A pro-Hadi officer claims that AQAP has pledged to fight alongside the group against the Houthis. An AQAP source confirmed the info, but clarified that the group was not loyal to Hadi.

A pro-Hadi officer claims that AQAP has pledged to fight alongside the group against the Houthis. An AQAP source confirmed the info, but clarified that the group was not loyal to Hadi.

SANA’A, April 8—Military sources in Abyan’s Lawdar district claimed on Wednesday that the 111th Infantry Brigade had cut off supplies to Houthi fighters and their allies in the governorate and had them surrounded since Tuesday. Shaker Al-Ghadir, an officer in the pro-Hadi 111th Infantry Brigade, said violent clashes with Houthi militants and their supporters in the 15th Armored brigade had killed at least 35 from either side since Tuesday.

Six-hundred men from the 111th Brigade based in Ahwar district linked up with 400 popular committee members on Tuesday and have since cut off all roads and supply lines, including the Abyan-Aden and Abyan-Shabwah roads, according to Al-Ghadir.

“On Friday the Houthis had entered the districts of Jaar, Lawdar and Shuqra. Soldiers from the brigade and members of Hadi’s popular committees are fighting them on all fronts and are winning,” he said.

Al-Ghadir also said Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Jalal Balidi and 600 of his militants are present in Abyan, and that they have pledged to fight alongside forces aligned against the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces.

Faisal Al-Saidi, a lawyer in Lawdar city, said Hadi’s popular committees include large numbers of AQAP fighters who can be seen chanting the group’s slogans. An AQAP fighter there who goes by the name Al-Zinad Al-Abyani has also claimed an alliance, but says his group are acting on their own initiative.

Speaking with the Yemen Times, Al-Abyani said, “we are fighting along with Hadi’s popular committees as a means to defend our land in Abyan, and because we share a common goal of killing the Houthis and any soldiers loyal to them, but we are not commanded by Hadi.”

Wadhah Al-Dhahmali, a soldier and Houthi supporter from the 15thArmored Brigade, said fierce fighting continues and that 20 fighters from his side had been killed so far. Al-Dhahmali said his units still had supplies coming from Al-Baidha governorate to the north and had made major advances the week prior.

The 15thArmored Brigade is based in Lawdar city and announced its support for the Houthi alliance on March 26, with the 111th Infantry Brigade joining forces loyal to Hadi on April 31.

ADVERTISMENT


Leave a Reply

Please fill the required box or you can’t comment at all. Please use kind words. Your e-mail address will not be published.

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>