Al-Jazeera sources reported clashes between Yemeni government forces, security belt forces and the UAE-backed transitional council in the vicinity of the city of Shaqra in Abyan province in southern Yemen.
The sources said that the clashes used heavy weapons such as tanks and Katyusha rockets, and that the forces of the belt and the Transitional Council withdrew from Shaqra to the area "Century Classy."
The United Arab Emirates-backed security belt and transitional council forces earlier took control of the city of Shaqra and Camp Qarn Mkalasi, hours after the legitimate government forces seized it after reinforcements arrived from Aden.
The large military reinforcements of the Yemeni government has arrived in the city of Mudiya in Abyan province, east of Aden.
Witnesses said that dozens of military vehicles loaded with soldiers, weapons and armored vehicles passed from the city of Mudiya on the way from Shabwa to strengthen the government forces engaged in clashes with the security belt forces and the Transitional Council forces in the city of Shakra, in order to control and advance towards the city of Zanzibar, the administrative center of Abyan province.
Checkpoints
As the war in Abyan escalates, security belt and transitional council forces have deployed checkpoints on streets and roads in the southern Yemeni province of Aden.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that military points belonging to the two sides, reinforced by military vehicles carrying machine guns, were developed in the main streets of the city, and that clashes took place between the security belt forces and their opponents in Dar Saad city in Aden.
Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ahmed al-Maisari has called on the commander of the UAE-backed security belt in Abyan province, to inject blood and not resist government forces seeking to regain control of the rest of Abyan province.