Military sources said that government forces advanced a few kilometers after the Sheikh Salem area towards the city of Zanzibar, the administrative center of the Abyan Governorate in southern Yemen, and took control of the positions of the forces of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
The sources stated that the government forces implemented a tactical withdrawal plan from the Sheikh Salem area, which prompted the transitional forces to try to advance towards Shakra, and it fell into an ambush set by the government forces for them, after the confrontations between the two parties witnessed desertion operations during yesterday and the first dawn hours.
Government forces have opened a new front towards the Al-Tariya "al-Darajaj" area, and field sources said that they have made remarkable progress in controlling the positions of the transitional forces there.
The sources confirmed that battalions of the Republican forces loyal to the UAE led by Tariq Afash, the son of the late President Ali Abd Saleh, had fought alongside the transitional forces against the government forces.
The confrontations between the two sides continue for three days, during which government forces seek to regain control of areas, including the city of Aden, which has been controlled by the forces of the Transitional Council since last August, when it carried out a military rebellion against the legitimate government with Emirati support.
Ahmed Saeed bin Brik, the head of what is known as the National Assembly of the Southern Transitional Council - supported with Emirati - announced the launch of the so-called southern military resistance, starting tomorrow, Thursday, in the Hadramawt Valley and in the governorates of Shabwa and Abyan, and any place where he described the terrorist elements of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Bin Brik pointed out that the announcement comes in response to the dispatch of leaders of these elements who supplied equipment from Sayyun (in Hadramout) to the city of Chakra (Abyan) to support the elements of "terrorism" there as he put it, referring to government forces that are engaged in confrontations with the forces of the UAE-backed Transitional Council.
In return, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani said that the Yemeni government made many concessions to the Emirati-backed transitional council, and made clear that the government's concessions reached the signing of the Riyadh agreement, stressing that it is responsible to the agreement to spare Aden and its people any confrontation.
He added that the transitional council dealt with these concessions lightly and considered them a sign of weakness, and accused the council of complicating the political, military and humanitarian scene.
Al-Iryani said that the transitional continued to implement unilateral steps, including declaring a state of emergency and self-management of the southern governorates, looting their revenues and escalating the situation in Socotra governorate.
For his part, the governor of Hadhramaut, Faraj Al-Bahsni, warned, in response to the transitional council organizing a show of his militants in the city of Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramaut, against any military action outside the official institutions, noting that this does not serve Hadhramaut nor the supreme interests of the country.
For his part, Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadrami said that the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council is determined to continue its armed rebellion and undermine the work of state institutions, including disrupting the work of the Ministry of Health teams concerned with tackling the Corona virus in Aden.