UAE-backed militants in Yemen arrest government supporters in Socotra

Militants loyal to the Southern Transition Council (STC) in Yemen and backed by the UAE, have launched a campaign to arrest supporters of the government in Socotra, Yemen Shebab news website reported on Tuesday.

Sources said that armed militants from the STC are arresting officials and activists. They claimed that the militants chased Lieutenant Ali Salem, the Director of the Immigration and Passports Department on the island, in order to confiscate the official stamps used by his staff.

Salem is now in hiding. The STC militants have distributed his photograph to military checkpoints across the island.

According to Yemen Shebab, monitors say that the STC is using the same tactics which were used when the UAE-backed militants occupied Aden on the Yemen mainland.

This latest report comes just two days after the Director of the Civil Status Office in Socotra, Lieutenant Saleh Amer, was detained by the STC militias. They also demanded that he should hand over his directorate’s official stamps.

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