Al Mukalla: A Yemeni army general and a stepbrother of the late ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he supports the internationally-recognised president of Yemen, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Major General Ali Saleh Afash Al Ahmar also vowed to throw his weight behind forces fighting the Iran-backed Al Houthis.
The state-run Saba news agency has said Al Ahmar, a former commander of the Republican Guards, pledged support to Hadi’s government that controls more than 80 per cent of Yemen’s territory.
At a meeting in the Saudi capital on Sunday, Hadi stressed the need to bring together Yemeni forces opposed to Al Houthis under the banner of his government, including those who recently defected from Al Houthi movement.
General Al Ahmar was the former commander of the Republican Guards, elite military units set up by Saleh to protect his regime, and the head of Saleh’s office.
General Al Ahmar decamped to government-controlled Marib in January 2 as Al Houthis were intensifying arrests against Saleh’s supporters. Al Ahmar had no significant military position since late 2011 when Saleh was unseated after mass anti-regime protest.
Al Houthis have been greatly weakened following the defection of dozens of army generals and politicians in December in protest against their ruthless killing of Saleh.
Hadi’s government has vowed to protect Saleh’s supporters who cross into their territories and help them flee Al Houthis’ escalating crackdown in Sana’a. But those military and political authorities should first recognise Hadi’s authority and join the Yemeni army if they want help from Hadi’s government and the Saudi-led coalition, the government said.
In late December, Major General Fadhel Al Qawsi, the former commander of Special Security Forces, threw his weight behind Hadi’s government.
Military experts in Yemen say Al Houthis have frantically increased recruitments of new fighters, including children, to replace thousands of militants who have defected to the government or were killed in fighting on the ground or by Saudi-led coalition fighter jets.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Taiz, activists said the death toll as a result of Al Houthi shelling rose to nine on Tuesday, after the deaths of two critically injured civilians. On Monday, Al Houthis fired missiles at residential areas in Taiz, killing seven civilians, including a cameraman and two women, and injuring at least two dozen. Another shell hit a military camp where hundreds of soldiers were parading and celebrating their graduation. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Taiz in similar indiscriminate shelling on densely populated district in Yemen’s third most important city.
