Yemen’s Foreign Ministry in Aden suspends most ops

ADEN, Yemen

Yemen's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday it is suspending operations in the provisional capital Aden until calm is restored after separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates seized parts of the city over the weekend.

"The Foreign Ministry regrets to announce that the work of its office in the interim capital of Aden has been suspended starting August 15, excluding consular services," it said in a statement.

The ministry said earlier that the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which wants an independent state in the south, should withdraw from the areas it seized before Yemen’s internationally recognized government engages in talks with it.

Tensions have escalated in Aden since members of the Security Belt militia aligned with the STC began clashing with forces of the UN-recognized Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA).

On Saturday, the militia seized the presidential palace in Aden’s al-Maasheeq district and some strategic government institutions.

According to the UN office in Yemen, at least 40 civilians have been killed and 260 injured in the clashes since Aug. 8.

After Iran-backed Houthis took over the capital, Sana, in 2014, nine countries from the Middle East and Africa came together under Saudi Arabia in response to calls from Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

But lately, the alliance has been fracturing. Qatar was suspended from the coalition in 2017 while Morocco ended its participation in February of 2019, followed by the UAE, which withdrew its forces in July.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit