The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) has formed a new military brigade in Abyan governorate in southern Yemen, a move that could complicate the stalled implementation of the military annex in the Riyadh Agreement, a defense ministry official in Abyan told Almasdar Online. 

Abdul Latif Al-Sayed, the former commander of the Security Belt Forces, assigned his younger brother Haidara Al-Sayed with the task of forming a military brigade, the official said. 

The newly-formed brigade, which will take over counter-terrorism operations in STC-controlled areas in Abyan, has already started recruitment in Abyan’s capital of Zinjbar, the nearby village of Khanfer and other areas, the official said.

Abdul Latif has been accused of overseeing the execution of government soldiers injured in an Emirati airstrike on army forces in late August.

The formation of the brigade coincides with the refusal of STC forces to withdraw from the outskirts of Zinjibar and their refusal to hand over heavy and medium weapons in accordance with the Riyadh Agreement. The STC has accused government forces of violating the Riyadh Agreement by refusing to withdraw from Abyan's coastal town of Shaqra.