Yemen’s Houthi govt calls on southerners to resist Saudi-UAE occupation

The Prime Minister of Yemen’s Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG), Abdulaziz Bin Habtour, yesterday called on southern Yemenis to rise up against the Saudi-UAE occupation, particularly in the port city of Aden which has been claimed as an interim capital by the Saudi-based, internationally-recognised Yemeni government and is currently under the control of the UAE-supported separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

According to the Sanaa-based Saba news agency, the prime minister said: “The tragic situation in Aden and other occupied provinces and cities require the honest people in the south with support from the free people across Yemen to rise against the occupiers and their criminal and puppet militias.”

Habtoor’s statement was made during a meeting with his administration’s governor of Aden, Tariq Salim, where the latest developments in the south were discussed. Persistent disagreements between the UN-recognised government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the STC in reaching the power-sharing deal known as the Riyadh Agreement have had disastrous impacts on the people, he said. Kidnapping and assassinations have also plagued the south as rival militia supported by the coalition leaders Saudi and the UAE regularly clash, notably in the neighbouring Abyan province.

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The report added that he called for better communication with “free national anti-occupation leaders” in Aden and coordination with them on confronting the occupying forces.

The forces of the pro-Houthi Yemeni military are focussing on the remaining stronghold of Saudi-backed militia in the northern city of Marib, with the recent capture of the strategic Mas base to its west earlier this month. According to the Yemen Press Agency, Hadi’s forces in the Marib have as of yesterday declared a state of emergency as the Houthis advance further to the entrance of the city.

Hadi’s defence minister has reportedly ordered the military police to prevent the movement of military personnel and confiscate all military pickup vehicles crews, including those of a military and security command.

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