On Friday, two Yemeni officials accused the UAE of providing the separatist Southern Transitional Council forces with drones, to be used against the government army.
An advisor to the Minister of Information, Mukhtar Al-Rahbi, said - in a tweet on Twitter - that the army had shot down drones for the Transitional Council - he did not mention how many - after it advanced on the battlefronts.
He added, "These aircraft arrived for the STC militants from the Emirates, which are adept at targeting the army and the people of Yemen, and they also played the same role in Libya." He continued, "They received a harsh lesson in Libya, and in Yemen, worse than that awaits."
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Muhammad Qizan, confirmed - in his tweet - that the army had shot down Emirati drones that were used by the Transitional Council forces during their battles with the army in Abyan Governorate (south).
There was no immediate comment from the UAE or the Southern Transitional Council on what the two Yemeni officials said.
The Yemeni government accuses the UAE of supporting the transitional council to serve special goals in Yemen, but Abu Dhabi usually denies this accusation.
Military confrontations
During the past days, the military confrontations between the government and transitional forces intensified in Abyan governorate, indicating that the Saudi Monitoring Committee has stalled in the ongoing disengagement since May 11, while the government and the Transitional Council exchange accusations about the repeated military escalation in Abyan.
This comes despite the announcement of the Saudi-Emirati coalition at the end of last July, a mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement signed between the Yemeni government and the Transitional Council, on November 5, 2019.
The mechanism includes: The transitional abandonment of the Autonomous Administration in the southern governorates, and the formation of a government of equal competencies between the south and the north.
It also includes the continuation of the ceasefire, the departure of the military forces of Aden Governorate, the separation of the forces of the two sides in Abyan, and their return to their previous positions.