16 January 2018•Update: 16 January 2018
By Shukri Hussein
ADEN, Yemen
Commanders of pro-government forces in south Yemen have renewed opposition to the presence of slain former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s nephew in the coastal city of Aden.
In a statement, they accused a Saudi-led bloc fighting Houthi rebels, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of provoking residents of south Yemen by hosting Tariq Saleh, a former commander of the Yemeni Special Forces, in Aden.
“This is a dangerous escalation that cannot be ignored,” the statement read.
The commanders called on their comrades to “raise the level of combat readiness and remain ready to carry out the directives they receive."
It warned parties providing help to the former president’s nephew that “they would not stand hand-tied”.
In December, local media reported that Tariq had been killed – along with the former president and a number of his allies -- by Houthi militiamen south of capital Sanaa.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, who served as Yemen’s president from 1990 to 2012, had earlier been considered an ally of the Houthis but had appeared to have had a falling out with the group shortly before his death last month.
Yemen has been dogged by violence since 2014, when the Houthis -- backed at the time by forces loyal to Saleh -- overran much of the country, including Sanaa.
