A senior military commander has defected from UAE-backed forces headed by Brigadier Tareq Saleh in Yemen’s West Coast Front and was received by the joint Houthi-army forces in the capital Sanaa.

Houthi spokesperson and member of their political bureau, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, announced yesterday that Brigadier General Abdulmalik Al-Abyadh who was chief of advanced operations under Tariq Saleh’s “Republican Guards”, which are loyal to the Saudi-led coalition and are supported by the UAE.

According to Al-Bukhaiti, Al-Abyadh joined the ranks of the Houthi forces to fight against the occupiers and issued an apology to the homeland. However, anti-Houthi sources the commander was already fired before the declaration of his defection.

Saleh established the Republican Guards in 2018 after the collapse of his alliance with the Houthis in late 2017.

Saleh’s forces are mainly concentrated on Yemen’s west coast and are instrumental in maintaining the coalition-led siege on the vital Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

-Agencies