Clashes between UAE, Saudi forces in Yemen escalate

Clashes between UAE-backed militants and Saudi-backed militias in Yemen’s Shabwa and Abyan provinces on Tuesday killed 35 members of the Transitional Council, including several senior leaders, and 15 members of the resigned Yemeni government.

The clashes came as Saudi sources said Monday that forces of the Transitional Council and Saudi militias had agreed on a ceasefire in Yemen.

Clashes between Saudi-backed resigned Yemeni President Abdurrahman Mansour Hadi and UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council militias are part of the growing conflict between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over influence in Yemen.

The clashes began in Aden and surrounding areas in southern Yemen; hundreds of people were then wounded and killed in other areas and on the island of Socotra.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed more than 20,000 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructure.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fueled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy, and diminished social services and livelihoods. The blockade on Yemen has smothered humanitarian deliveries of food and medicine to the import-dependent state.