Shabwa Governor Mohammed Saleh bin Adyo called on Yemen’s president to take action against what he described as "the absurdity and provocation of the UAE forces" towards the Yemeni army and the people of the governorate.

In a letter to Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, obtained by Almasdar Online, bin Adyo said he was surprised by a group of Emirati jets flying over southeastern Shabwa governorate. The jet formation was apparently escorting an Emirati force on its way to the Al-Alam army base from the port of Balhaf, a routine procedure that occurs every 15 days.

The fighter jets broke the sound barrier in what sounded like a bomb blast as they approached Yemeni army positions, bin Adyo wrote, describing the recurrent behavior as a “provocative phenomenon carried out by the UAE forces." 

The UAE’s armored vehicles have refused to stop at Yemeni army and security forces’ checkpoints, he said, accusing them of "driving over speed bumps at insane speeds and ignoring the presence of the army and security personnel.”

He accused the UAE of using the Al-Alam base to "distribute weapons to militias that attack the security forces and the army from time to time and have no other tasks."

The governor called on Hadi, who has resided in Riyadh since shortly after the war started in 2015, to take measures to stop the tampering and provocation of UAE forces towards the army, security forces and the people of the governorate in general.  

Late last month, Yemeni forces stopped an Emirati convoy at a security checkpoint near Shabwa’s capital Ataq that was carrying sophisticated weapons that had not been formally registered.  

UAE forces remain at Shabwa’s southern port of Balhaf and at Al-Alam army base near the center of Shabwa, despite advances by Yemeni government troops taking control of Ataq, after clashes with UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces in late August. 

Saudi Arabia intervened in the fighting and negotiated a power sharing deal, known as the Riyadh agreement, in which the STC and its forces will be integrated into Yemen’s internationally recognized government based in the interim capital Aden. Large numbers of Saudi troops and military have arrived in Aden in recent weeks to oversee implementation of the Riyadh agreement.