A Yemeni source in Socotra, told Al-Jazeera News, that UAE-backed gunmen took control of the leadership of the 1st Marine Brigade, for his part, accused a Yemeni government official of a military commander of treason. 

The brigade has been looted - says this source - as well as weapons and ammunition depots in it that have become outside the control of government forces, confirming that the governorate authorities are still resisting the insurgency in light of the silence of the coalition and the Saudi forces present in Socotra.

According to the source in Socotra’s authority, Aidros Al-Zubaidi, the head of the so-called Southern Transitional Council, appointed one of the most prominent loyalists to the UAE to lead the brigade, called Abdullah Ahmed Kanzhar, and had previously defected to the third battalion on the island.

He also warned of an Emirati plot to invade the military town of Hadiboh, the administrative center of Socotra, and to control government institutions and the only port.

This comes two days after the Southern Transitional Council, which declared self-management and the state of emergency in southern Yemen last Saturday, confirmed that it is "a delegate of the people" and will not back down from "the interests of its people and the provision of security and stability."

It is noteworthy that the United Nations, the European Union, the Saudi-Emirati alliance, the League of Arab States, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation announced in separate statements their refusal to announce the transitional council autonomy for its areas of control in Aden, stressing the need to work to implement the Riyadh agreement signed between this council and the legitimate government sponsored A Saudi woman last November. 

615296095400179950199-9a46-49f2-923b-c89f9a2415408f389329-7b51-461c-88c2-96fb8cbff482
video

An accusation of treason
, for his part, accused Mukhtar al-Rahbi (adviser to the Minister of Information) - in a tweet at his expense on Twitter - Brigadier General Nasser Qais (Acting Commander of the First Marine Brigade in Socotra) of treason, stressing that he handed the brigade's weapons to the governorate to what he called the militias of the UAE-backed transitional council.

Al Rahbi indicated that the handover process came under direct directions from the Emirates representative in Socotra, Brigadier Khalfan Al Mazrouei, according to what was reported by the Anatolia News Agency.

And that these developments take place in light of the presence of a thousand Saudi soldiers in Socotra, without announcing any position to support legitimacy and local authority after the first brigade marines stormed the forces of the Transitional Council.

Socotra witnesses, from time to time, attempts to control vital facilities implemented by gunmen backed by the Emirates, in addition to rebellions of battalions in government forces and join forces with the Southern Transitional Council, which demands the secession of southern Yemen from the north.

Socotra is the largest of the archipelago of the same name, consisting of six islands, and occupies a strategic location in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the Horn of Africa, near the Gulf of Aden.