Alwaght- Saudi Arabia-backed militants and the UAE-sponsored fighters clashed in Yemen’s Socotra Island, revealing deep rift in the Riyadh-led coalition waging war on Yemen.
Local sources reported Friday infighting between Saudi-sponsored mercenaries loyal to Yemen's former president AbdRabbuh Mansur Hadi and armed units of the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is supported by the UAE, over the control of Socotra’s provincial capital Hadibo.
"The government forces exchanged artillery shelling with the STC's military units during hours of clashes sparked over the control of Hadibu," a local security source said on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses also told local media that the UAE-aligned elements had fired artillery shells at residential areas near Hadibo.
Shells struck the mountainous district of Haybat, about 20kilometers outside of Hadibo, said resident Aden al-Ghad.
Yemen's former prime minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr tweeted that the UAE-backed militants were trying to take control of Socotra’s provincial capital "using all types of heavy weapons".
Some reports indicated that the STC’s military units had also seized control of a coast guard battalion of the Yemeni army and looted weapons and ammunition stores.
Meanwhile, the al-Masirah TV network said Friday’s clashes followed the arrival of an Emirati ship loaded with weapons on the coast of Socotra.
Last week, the STC declared a state of emergency and announced “self-administration rule” in Yemen’s southern regions, including the port city of Aden — which has served as the seat of Hadi’s regime during the Saudi military aggression.
In August 2018, the UAE deployed more than a hundred troops with artillery and armored vehicles to Socotra. A few months later, a UAE official visiting Socotra said the island would become part of the UAE and its residents would be given Emirati citizenship.
In 2019, the UAE announced a surprise plan to withdraw part of its troops from Yemen in a major blow to its coalition allies.
Both the UAE-sponsored separatists and Saudi-backed Hadi loyalists serve a Riyadh-led military coalition which has been waging a bloody war on Yemeni people since March 2015.
The Western-sponsored bombing campaign has plunged Yemen into what the UN says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis and shattered its health system.
Aid groups have warned that Yemen’s health system is ill-equipped to handle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Yemen records first coronavirus case in Ta’iz
Late on Friday, Yemen reported the first coronavirus case in Ta’iz Province, raising the number of diagnosed infections to seven with two deaths.
In a Twitter post, the emergency coronavirus committee said that a 40-year-old man was diagnosed with the infection in Taiz, the region’s first case.
“The patient is receiving care at a quarantine center and measures have been taken by the monitoring teams and the health department for those who interacted with him,” it added.
