Newly recruited troops of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council are seen on a vehicle during their graduation in Aden, Yemen July 23, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman – RC1A52E65510
The Giants Brigades, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) main proxies in Yemen, continue to advance in the province of Shabwah with direct support from the Saudi-led coalition.
The Yemeni group launched a large-scale operation, dubbed “Southern Storm,” to expel the Houthis (Ansar Allah) from the central-southern province in the beginning of the year.
On January 2, the Giants Brigades managed to capture the center of Usaylan district. On January 3 and 4, the group’s fighters advanced further in the district, capturing the mountain of Bin Aqil, the key town of al-Nuqub and several other areas.
The Giants Brigades managed to entered the district of Bayhan on January 5. On the same day, the group’s fighters seized the 163rd Infantry Brigade Camp.
On January 6, the group reached the al-Sa’di junction, cutting the Houthis main supply line between Bayhan and the district of Harib in the neighboring province of Ma’rib.
The Giants Brigades have been receiving close air support from Saudi-led coalition warplanes. Between January 5 and 6, coalition warplanes carried out 37 airstrikes on Houthi forces in Shabwah in support of Operation Southern Storm. According to the coalition’s claims, 190 Houthi fighters were killed and 24 military vehicles, including a rocket launcher, were destroyed.
#فيديو | #التحالف ينشر لقطات فيديو من عمليات استهداف ضد المليشيا في شبوة.#واس_عام pic.twitter.com/aCmkYaX8J8
— واس العام (@SPAregions) January 5, 2022
The advance in Shabwah didn’t come without a price. On January 4, the Houthis killed Colonel Samih Jarada, commander of the Giants’ 2nd Brigade, along with a number of his fighters. The group also shot down a Chinese-made CAIG Wing Loong II combat drone of the UAE Air Force over Usaylan on January 5.
Operation Southern Storm took the Houthis by surprise. The group will likely lose its positions in Shabwah if it fails to reorganize its forces there within a few days.
It’s unbelievable how easily people indoctrinated, like you’d think they’re smart enough to see the obvious that this support Israel
Yemenis don’t support Israel. Not at all.
Maybe not, but the Arab coalition that runs their country does. They even let Israel build its own intelligence center on Socotra.
UAE only
It’s a coalition of states, I think you’ll find. They may occasionally find themselves at cross purposes, as all allies do, but at the end of the day, they eat from the same hand.
UAE and Bahran. Morocco, Sudan, Egypt and Jordan also recognize it but their people don’t.
The people aren’t in charge of foreign policy, now are they?
But they support
you do support Israel. always. and Saudis.
Israel is friend of Greece. Saudis are extreme.
A few weeks or even days Houthis just walk in and just get more weapons and supplies from Zion’s useless dogs.
It is laughable to see these monkeys, they have the support of KSA, UAE, yanquis, and Zion.
Over the years they just lost more and more, Houthis doesn’t have much air support nor do they have the support of four countries.
BTW, this is Shabwah… they bombed the whole area and send 100s fuks, Houthis just left and come back later… how are they going to hold those areas, Houthis knows those areas and they controlled it before they going to do it again. Those Saudi slaves can’t call in air support 24/7 like the yanquis.
China also supports the Hadi government, Belarus also. Russia also accepts the government. lol
Agreed. Not first time they did just like this.
What we’ve seen throughout the course of this war is that the STC is a damn sight more effective than Hadi’s forces. That is to say, they’re capable of actually making meaningful gains on the ground and holding them. The Houthis are going to have to fight hard to regain the initiative.
To be clear, do the Houthis want all of Yemen, or would they accept a partition of it back into North & South? I’d be for an STC-run South & Houthi-run North.
Yeah, by all rights, the STC shouldn’t care about the Houthis whatsoever, and the Houthis, being a Yazidi movement, should be happy with just the north. However, a north-south divide would be a serious problem for the powers that back the sides, so the war drums bang on.
At least, that’s my analysis.
Zaydi not Yazidi