ADEN // The UAE and Saudi Arabia-led coalition has sent a specialist anti-terrorist force to bolster Aden after attacks targeted the country’s internationally recognised government, security chiefs said.
The deployment comes as Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir said on Tuesday it was up to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their allies to bring an end to the war in Yemen.
While the coalition fighting to defeat the Houthis have made significant gains in recent weeks, the suicide attacks against the hotel housing the prime minister and the base of the Emirates Red Crescent, have shaken the city. The attacks killed 15 coalition soldiers, including four Emiratis, and were claimed by a group claiming to be an ISIL affiliate.
“The coalition sent anti-terrorist forces to Aden two days ago,” said Mohammed Mosaed, an official in the city’s security office. He said the Gulf teams would train Yemeni resistance fighters and help monitor terrorist groups threatening to attack the city.
Mr Mosaed said police had been working to secure the city since last week’s attacks, setting up new checkpoints in the city and reinforcing police stations.
Most members of the government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi flew to Riyadh on Sunday while work continues to secure buildings from where they can work, said Alawi Bafaqeeh, the immigration minister.
“Al Ma’asheeq palace [Presidential Palace] and the other palaces in Aden are still under reconstruction and there is not another proper hotel or building to work from, so we decided to leave the city,” he said.
He said some ministers had remained but that the rest of the government had travelled to Riyadh and would return when the palaces of Aden are ready. He said this was likely to take at least a month.
The government returned to Aden in September, two months after UAE forces had fought alongside local resistance fighters to repel the Houthis from the city. Emirati charities then led the way in distributing aid and bringing services back to the city, which suffered severe damage after the Houthis, allied with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, swept south across the country and took over Aden in March.
While the city’s residents are disappointed to see their government again leaving, the progress made against the Houthis in both Marib and Taez provinces has brought hope that an end to the conflict may be close.
Last week the rebels told mediators they were ready to accept a UN peace plan after suffering repeated military defeats. Under the plan, they would accept a Security Council resolution calling on them to withdraw from invaded territory and hand over arms.
“They are the ones who started this and they are the ones who continue this,” said the Saudi foreign minister, on Tuesday. “We believe that the political process is the better option and that the Houthis and Saleh forces should avail themselves of this opportunity and reach a settlement,” Mr Al Jubeir said.
“The coalition has achieved success in reversing the gains by Houthi-Saleh forces in Yemen,” and now is the time for a political process to begin based on UN Resolution 2216, he said.
On Tuesday, coalition air strikes killed eight rebel fighters in a renewed attempt to cut their supply lines to the port of Hodeidah, Yemen’s third largest city, security official told the Associated Press. Fighting also raged in Taez, one of the major battle grounds, which, if secured by the government, would open another route towards Sanaa.
For Aden’s residents, who have suffered greatly during the conflict, many are fearful since last week’s attacks.
Thimar Mokhtar, 32, a receptionist at the Dream Hotel in Al Sheikh Othman said the security situation had worsened dramatically.
“There are many military vehicles still with the militias in Aden, and we do not know who is with the government and who is against it,” she said.
She said that the city could only be protected from extremist groups by UAE and coalition forces.
Aden’s residents “hate the culture of militias,” she said.
Mohammed Al Hassani, a political analyst based in Sanaa, said the security concerns over extremist groups was a major threat to the government in Yemen.
“The ministers know very well that there are disputes among the different armed groups in Aden,” he said.
The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in the Yemen war.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
