UAE-backed commander killed in Yemen

Yemeni sources announced the killing of Hud Saleh Al-Marimi, a commander of the UAE-backed Security Belt Forces, who was shot by an unknown source in the Abyan province in the south of the country.

Al Jazeera quoted witnesses and sources as saying that Al-Marimi was assassinated at dawn yesterday while in his car in a popular market in the city of Zinjibar, the capital of the province.

The Anadolu Agency quoted a source who asked not to be named saying that a masked gunman riding a motorcycle shot Al-Marimi.

The source added that the gunman fired several shots at Al-Marimi and killed him immediately, before fleeing to an unknown location.

The security authorities in Abyan province did not confirm the incident took place and no one has claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Colonel Al-Marimi was appointed only three months ago as commander of the Security Belt Forces, as successor to Colonel Mohammed Al-Auban.

Protests in Yemen’s Aden against UAE presence

The UAE is operating in Yemen as part of a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting against the Iran-backed Houthis and forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The coalition entered the war in 2015 to reinstate the UN-backed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. However in recent months the UAE has been found to be backing the Southern Transitional Council in an effort to split Yemen in to two countries, North and South, contrary to the objectives of the coalition.