UAE compels Yemen forces to withdraw from gas facility vicinity

A picture shows part of Yemen’s second liquid natural gas plant under construction in the coastal area of Balhaf, southeast of the capital Saana on February 19, 2009. [KHALED FAZAA/AFP via Getty Images]

United Arab Emirates (UAE) forces have compelled their Yemeni counterparts to withdraw from the vicinity of the Balhaf oil facility in southern Yemen.

Unnamed sources told Al-Jazeera that the Yemeni government forces had withdrawn from sites around the facility in the Shabwa province following the Abu Dhabi calls.

The sources added that the withdrawal of the Yemeni forces came after the UAE vowed to control the facility.

The Balhaf oil facility is located on the Gulf of Aden coast in the southern part of the country, between Mukalla and Aden. It is linked to the rich gas fields in the Marib basin by means of a 322-kilometre overland pipeline.

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