UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces prevented troops loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and Saudi forces from entering Lahj governorate on Saturday, as part of the implementation of the Saudi-brokered Riyadh agreement to calm tensions in the region.  

When Hadi’s coast guard forces arrived at Al-Alam checkpoint, 12 kilometers east of Aden, STC forces blocked them from heading towards the outskirts of Lahj’s capital Al-Hotah, a military official at the defense ministry told Almasdar Online. 

Some of the Saudi forces that arrived with the government forces at Al-Alam checkpoint moved on towards Aden, while one Saudi unit remained with the coast guard, led by Brig. Gen. Zaki Abdullah, before leaving with them in the direction of the coastal town of Shaqra in Abyan governorate early Sunday.

The official said that the STC forces requested the departure of Hadi’s Presidential Protection Forces in Shaqra in exchange for allowing the coast guard to pass into Lahj.

The redeployment of the coast guard forces is in accordance with the Riyadh Agreement, which calls for the reorganizing of military forces under the internationally recognized government’s Ministry of Interior outside Aden in the neighboring Lahj governorate.