The Yemeni Army Brigade command in Shabwa said that the Emirati-backed Giants forces had taken control of the oil sectors in the governorate, located in southern Yemen.
The command of the 21st Mechanized Brigade in the Yemeni army stated that UAE-backed forces launched an attack on Saturday against the forces protecting companies and oil and gas facilities in Shabwa governorate.
And she added in a statement that the Giants and Shabwa Defense forces looted the property of the Yemen Gas Company near the Ayyad oil area, and also accused it of looting the protection forces' equipment, and the capture of a number of its members.
The command of the brigade said that the Emirati-backed forces "disobeyed the presidential directives not to approach companies and oil fields."
The statement called on the Presidential Command Council and the Saudi-led coalition to quickly implement presidential decisions, impose calm, and release the captured protection force.
He also called for the return of all stolen goods from the army and oil companies, estimated at millions of dollars, and the withdrawal of those forces from the sites of the companies that stormed them.
And local sources said that the Giants and Shabwa Defense Forces advanced towards the Khashem Armid area at the junction between the Shabwa and Hadramout governorates, while the Presidential Military Committee called for a halt to the confrontations and prevented any advance of the forces.
The sources pointed out that the international road, Al-Abr-Wadea, leading to Saudi Arabia and Oman, was cut off in both directions, due to clashes in which heavy weapons were used, which led to a congestion of passengers and tankers.
For his part, Saleh Al-Noud, a spokesman for the Southern Transitional Council office in London, said, commenting on these events, that controlling the oil facilities is normal because they have turned into black boxes.
He added in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the forces that were protecting these facilities were protecting the influential people in the province.
Shabwa governorate has witnessed a remarkable escalation for days, as a Yemeni military source said last week that a drone was likely to be an Emirati that targeted Yemeni army sites.
These sites extend on a main road between the city of Ataq, the administrative center of Shabwa Governorate, and the Al-Abr region of Hadramout Governorate.
Yemeni military sources also spoke a few days ago about the Emirati-backed Giants forces taking control of the strategic Nadah camp, and their initiation to strengthen their positions to launch an attack on the Oqla fields, the second largest oil field in Yemen, according to those sources.