Saudi hands Yemen military camps to local tribes, protesters say

Saudi forces have handed over the camps they have evacuated in Yemen to tribal leaders who are loyal to the kingdom but have close ties with southern separatists backed by the UAE, the head of the media department of the peaceful sit-in committee in Al-Mahra said yesterday.

Salem Al-Mahri added that the Saudi soldiers withdrew and transported heavy weapons from the camps to Al-Ghaydah Airport, which Riyadh turned into a military base years ago.

He continued: “What happened is not a withdrawal, but rather a farce, as no Saudi military personnel left the camps, where they were stationed, to the territory of the kingdom, but they were transferred to Al-Ghaydah Airport instead.”

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Saudi aims to plunge the area into chaos, he explained, as it not only gave the tribes the camps, but also four-wheel drive vehicles and weapons. The areas should have been handed back to government forces, he added.

Al-Mahri who opposes Riyadh’s intervention in Yemen explained that “this withdrawal, even if partial, embodies the climax of the popular struggle that the Mahris have displayed through the peaceful sit-in movement for years against the illegal military presence in our province which is out of the warzone in the country.”

The protest movement will continue against the Saudi forces and every foreign presence in the governorate, until they are all expelled, he added.