ADEN: Yemen's
government yesterday accused the UAE of launching air strikes against its
troops in the interim capital Aden in support of separatists who say they have
regained control of the southern city. The United Arab Emirates has trained and
supported separatists who seek an independent southern Yemen, although it is a
key pillar in a Saudi-led military coalition backing the Yemeni government
against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

"The Yemeni
government condemns the Emirati air strikes against government forces in the
interim capital Aden and in Zinjibar, which resulted in civilian and military
casualties," Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Al-Hadhrami said in a tweet.
He urged coalition leader Saudi Arabia "to stand by the legitimate
government and stop this illegal and unjustified military escalation".

The clashes
between separatists and government forces -- who for years fought on the same
side against the Houthis -- have raised concerns that the famine-threatened
country could break apart entirely. The deputy foreign minister did not say
when the alleged air strikes took place.

But residents in
Aden told AFP they heard air raids late Wednesday when forces loyal to Yemeni
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi entered Aden, which separatists had captured
earlier this month. Yesterday a spokesman for the separatists' Southern
Transitional Council (STC) said the UAE-backed Security Belt Forces were in
full control of Aden after renewed clashes with government forces.

Reinforcements

"The
Security Belt force completely controls the city of Aden along with its
entrances," spokesman Haitham Nezar said. A government security source
confirmed Aden was under the full control of the STC, saying government troops
who entered parts of the city a day earlier "withdrew from Aden" to
Abyan province. The STC-dominated separatists brought massive reinforcements
from other regions, officials from both sides said.

Nezar said the
Security Belt forces were now setting their sights on the nearby provinces of
Abyan and Shabwa, which had been retaken by government troops earlier this
week. "Our plan is to kick out the invading forces from the south,"
said Nezar, referring to government forces seen by the separatists as
outsiders.

The Yemeni
government has also drafted in reinforcements from the north as the two parties
appear to be preparing for a major showdown for supremacy in the south of the
Arabian Peninsula nation.  STC vice
president Hani bin Breik posted pictures of himself and other southern leaders
touring the streets of the city including the airport, while warning fleeing
government loyalists of punishment.

Thousands of
Security Belt troops, dominated by the STC, were recalled from several parts of
the country, including from the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, to reinforce the
separatists in Aden. Bin Breik said that STC forces fighting against the
Houthis in the north were sent to the south for a major battle. "We will
not remain in the (battle) fronts to liberate the north from the Houthis while
the north is invading us," he said. The STC is fighting to regain the
independence of South Yemen which unified with the north in 1990.

'Dialogue only
way'

Hadi's government
said on Wednesday it had seized back Aden from separatists who captured the
strategic city on August 10 after a fierce battle that left at least 40 people
dead. The fighting has opened a new front in a complex war that has already
claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked what the United Nations calls
the world's worst humanitarian crisis

The coalition
intervened in the war in 2015 in support of the government after the Houthis
swept south from their northern stronghold to seize the capital Sanaa and much
of Yemen -- the Arab world's poorest nation. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
meeting in Washington with Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister, Prince
Khalid bin Salman, called for a negotiated resolution with STC forces.

Pompeo and the
prince "agreed that dialogue represents the only way to achieve a stable,
unified and prosperous Yemen," the State Department said in a statement.
The meeting came after The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said
US President Donald Trump's administration was pursuing secret talks with the
Houthis in hopes of winding down the violence. - AFP