Seven killed as Saudi coalition strikes separatist fighters in Yemen

AFP | Mukalla

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Air strikes killed seven separatist fighters in Yemen yesterday, according to an official with the group, as a Saudi-led coalition hit back against a sweeping advance by the Southern Transition Council.

The deaths are the first from coalition fire since the secessionist STC seized swathes of Hadramawt and Mahra provinces last month.

Following the strikes, a military spokesman for the STC said it was in a “decisive and existential” war with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces, characterising it as a fight against radical Islamism.

Mohammed Abdulmalik, head of the STC in Wadi Hadramaut and Hadramaut Desert, said seven air strikes hit the Al-Khasah camp, killing seven and wounding more than 20.

Further strikes targeted other sites in the same region, he added.

The air raids came shortly after pro-Saudi forces launched a campaign to “peacefully” take control of military sites in Hadramawt.

“This operation is not a declaration of war, nor an attempt to escalate tensions,” Hadramawt governor Salem Al-Khanbashi, also leader of the province’s Saudi-backed local forces, was quoted as saying by the Saba Net news agency.

“This operation does not target any political or social group,” he said, adding that it “aims to peacefully and systematically hand over military sites”.

Saudi sources confirmed the strikes were carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, which also nominally includes the UAE and was formed in 2015 to fight the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen’s north.

A source close to the Saudi military warned: “It will not stop until the Southern Transitional Council withdraws from the two governorates.”

The STC seized much of Hadramawt, bordering Saudi Arabia, and neighbouring Mahra last month.

Also on Friday, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed AlJabir, said the STC had blocked a Saudi delegation from landing at Aden airport, accusing the group of “intransigence”.

According to the Flightradar24 tracking website, no planes have taken off or landed at Aden airport for more than 24 hours, although the ministry did not officially announce its closure.