Official: Tribesmen abduct 15 UAE-backed soldiers in eastern Yemen

Yemeni tribesmen yesterday stopped a military convoy carrying 15 members of the United Arab Emirates-backed forces in the country’s eastern governorate of Shabwa, two well-informed sources said.

Adviser to the Yemeni Minister of Information, Mukhtar Al-Rahbi, told Anadolu that “armed tribesmen from Al-Sada tribes stopped a military convoy and prevented it from reaching the Al-Alam camp, which is controlled by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), east of Shabwa and detained all soldiers on board.”

He added that the convoy was carrying soldiers from the UAE-backed Shabwani Elite Forces, noting that it is highly likely that the detained soldiers include Emirati citizens.

Meanwhile, a local source in Shabwa governorate, who preferred not to be named, explained that “the convoy, which included about five armoured military vehicles, was carrying more than 15 soldiers”.

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According to the source, the operation came after the UAE abandoned its commitment to compensate the Al-Sada tribes for the killing of nine of their members by the Shabwani Elite Forces.

In early January 2019, seven armed men from Al-Sada tribes and two civilians including a child were killed, and others were wounded, in an attack launched by the Shabwa Elite Forces in the Markha District of Shabwa Governorate.

In mid-March 2019, the tribes concluded an agreement with the Shabwani Elite Forces in the governorate, which would see Abu Dhabi pay 64 million Saudi riyals ($17 million) to the tribes as compensation for their human and material losses as a result of the attack.

There has been no official UAE statement on the attack.