UAE-backed Yemen force captures Al-Qaeda stronghold

A military force backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has captured the strategic Al-Masini Valley region -- an Al-Qaeda stronghold -- in Yemen’s eastern Hadhramaut province, a Yemeni military source said Friday.

“With the support of the [Saudi-led] Arab coalition, an elite force [trained and funded by the UAE] managed to capture central Hadhramaut’s Al-Masini Valley from Al-Qaeda militants based there,” Army Brigadier-General Munir Karama al-Tamimi was quoted as saying by local media.

The development, al-Tamimi said, came within the context of a coalition operation launched last Friday against Al-Qaeda “in mountainous parts of the valley”.

According to the army officer, 20 Al-Qaeda militants have been killed -- and a number of others captured -- since the operation began one week ago.

He did not say whether Yemeni forces had sustained any casualties in the fighting.

Last Friday, the Saudi-led coalition announced the launch of a wide-ranging operation -- dubbed “Al-Faisal” -- aimed at purging the valley region of Al-Qaeda elements.

According to al-Tamimi, the Hadhrami Elite Force, which spearheaded the operation, was established in 2015 with arms and funding provided by the UAE.

Trained in Saudi Arabia, force members are drawn mainly from Hadhramaut province.

The UAE is a leading member of a Saudi-led military coalition that has been pounding Houthi positions in Yemen since 2015.

Impoverished Yemen has been dogged by violence since late 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies -- including the UAE -- launched a wide-ranging campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing violence has devastated public infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation in Yemen as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times”.