![Supporters of Houthis participate in march on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Houthis' control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, on 21 September 2019. [Mohammed Hamoud - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/20190922_2_38336427_47805217.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Sources affiliated with Yemen’s Houthis have reported plans by the UAE to wipe out the Islamist Islah Party’s leadership across southern Yemen.
A member of the Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG), which is based in the capital Sanaa, revealed the plot to assassinate leaders of the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in the provinces of Taiz, Ma’rib and Shabwah.
According to a Tweet on Saturday by Deputy Foreign Minister in the NSG Hussein Al-Izzi, a nephew of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Tariq Afash requested funding from the UAE to carry out plans to eradicate the leaders of the Islah Party across the aforementioned provinces.
Al-Izzi added that the UAE had agreed to adopt Afash’s plan and to execute it with the assistance of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which it supports and who has engaged in fierce clashes with the forces of the Saudi-backed leadership of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, much of which is comprised of Islah-affiliated militia and Sudanese mercenaries.
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“I hesitated to publish the information about the plan of the UAE, Tariq Afash and the STC to eliminate the Islah party, but I think it’s time to contribute to the save them, even if they are of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.
The UAE has long held the Brotherhood in contempt and has been at the forefront in fighting against Islamist movements. There have also been previous claims made by Islah members that the UAE hired mercenaries to kill its leaders.
Since the so-called Riyadh Agreement was signed last month, there has been a spate in assassinations by both sides across the troubled south of the country, in particular in the port city of Aden which is contested as a capital between the Riyadh-based Yemen government of Hadi and the STC which envisions it as a future capital of a revived South Yemen state. As of present, the power-sharing agreement has failed to live up to its objectives, especially as key deadlines have passed without progress made towards conciliatory efforts.