Political parties and organizations in Taiz governorate have warned a prominent militia leader against the mobilization of fighters in the Yafros area of the Jabal Habashi district. 

In a statement obtained by Almasdar Online on Wednesday, Taizi political parties criticized the formation of a training camp by Sheikh Hammoud Saeed Al-Mekhlafi, leader of the popular resistance in Taiz, who they say is recruiting troops away from battlefronts along Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia. 

Al-Makhlafi called on Taizis to return home from the Saudi-Yemen border after Houthis ambushed fighters there in September, claiming to have killed 500 and captured 2,000. Al-Mekhlafi has said on social media that the strength of the new camp comes from Taizi fighters returning home to liberate their city. 

“Dealing with local entities ... outside the framework of legitimate Yemeni institutions and leadership is a crime," according to the statement, which rejected attempts to disturb relations with the Saudi-led coalition.

The parties called on the Governor of Taiz and chairman of the security committee Nabil Shamsan and the leadership of the Taiz Military Axis to "take measures to deter any attempts that would create armed formations outside the military establishment." 

The parties also urged Yemeni army leadership to investigate the issue of returnees from frontlines on the Saudi-Yemen border, saying that such practices would disturb the relationship with the Saudi-led coalition.