Yemeni president meets UAE troops at Al Anad airbase

The Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni army are using the airbase to launch operations against the Houthis, while UAE Armed Forces are training pro-government fighters at the facility.

President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi joins UAE and Yemeni armed forces personnel at Al Anad airbase, which is being used to launch operations against the Houthis and to train Yemeni government fighters. EPA

ADEN // Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi met Emirati troops at Al Anad airbase in Lahj province on Tuesday, as a new batch of Yemeni resistance fighters completed their training with the UAE Armed Forces.

The Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni army are using the airbase to launch operations against the Houthis in the neighbouring provinces of Dalea and Taez.

Mr Hadi’s visit to Al Anad airbase – where UAE Armed Forces are training members of the Yemeni army and local resistance – was his first since being elected president in 2012.

He was accompanied by the Emirati commander of the UAE forces in Yemen, Brigadier Nasser Moshabeb, and the Yemeni commander of the fourth military region in Aden, Major General Ahmed Al Yafei.

Maj Gen Al Yafei lauded the training of pro-government fighters at the base as a big step towards establishing a Yemeni armed forces, capable of defending Yemen and maintaining law and order in Aden.

The Yemeni army – backed by coalition troops and local resistance forces – recaptured Al Anad airbase in August, four months after it fell into the Houthis’ hands.

Mr Hadi returned to Aden from exile in Saudi Arabia on November 17 to lead the offensive to liberate Taez from the Houthis. The offensive was launched on November 15.

Later on Tuesday, the president travelled to the Karesh region of Lahj where he visited Yemeni troops and resistance fighters battling the rebels in Al Rahida – Taez’s second-largest city.

“The visit of Hadi to the fighters of Al Rahida front will encourage them to liberate Al Rahida as soon as possible,” said the spokesperson of Lahj province, Basem Al Zuraiqi.

The Houthi rebels on Monday “blew up several bridges leading to Rahida to prevent the advance” of loyalist forces, military sources said.

Pro-Hadi troops are now stationed 12 kilometres away from Al Rahida after they regained several positions in clashes that lasted until early Tuesday and left five rebels and two pro-government fighters dead.

Meanwhile, the Khalifa Foundation sent more aid to the Yemeni island of Socotra, which was badly affected by cyclones Chabala and Megh under the direction of the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The foundation has so far dispatched more than five tons of medical materials and equipment to Socotra, as well as ten tons of blankets and tents, 500 tons of various food items and 1200 barrels of diesel.

* With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse and Wam