By Mohammed al-Kibsi
Few days before the conclusion of the National
Dialogue Conference (NDC), the former vice president of Yemen Ali Salem
al-Beidh declared war against the military and security forces, launched from
Dale and Lahj provinces in the south of Yemen on Sunday.
In a statement screened on the Beirut based,
Aden Live TV channel, affiliated to al-Beidh, the TV channel published what it
called the statement number one that it attributed to the Southern National
Resistance through which it sponsored launching attacks against the military
and security forces in Dale and Lahj provinces on Saturday.
This was the first time the Southern Movement admits
launching attacks against the army and calling it as "the army of the
enemies". The southern movement has
been always affirming it’s a peaceful movement.
In its statement it said that the Southern
National Resistance militias launched massive attacks against the military
sites of the 33rd armor brigade in al-Jarba and Abboud military
camps in Dale province. "The attacks resulted in capturing two military
sites and capturing one of the soldiers," the statement said.
It also said that the southern resistance's
fighters launched an attack against a military patrol in Lahj province, killing
four soldiers, destroying a military vehicle and capturing a number of arms.
A security source affirmed that militants
affiliated to the Southern Movement launched an RBG assailant on a military
vehicle while it was in its way to the 7th of July military brigade
at al-Malah area of Radfan district in Lahj province on Saturday.
The source said that two soldiers were killed
immediately and that two others died later sustaining injuries from the attack.
The statement also warned the military forces
from attacking any southerners, promising to continue launching assailants
against the army until liberating the south of Yemen and restoring the
"South Arabian State", former southern Yemen.
The statement said the attacks were in response
to killing leader Burkan Manee' Saleh
and a number of civilians who were killed in attacks launched by the 33rd
armor brigade located in Dale province on Friday.
Confrontations between the southern movement
and the 33rd armor brigade, located in Dale province, have been
continuing for the past two weeks resulting in killing over 30 of the southern
movement fighters and civilians including women and children.
Over 20 people were killed when a tank
affiliated to the 33rd armor brigade bombarded a school in Sanah
area of Dale last December. The southern movement stated that the tank targeted
a mourning ceremony that had been launching in the school. However the
commander of the 33rd brigade General Abdullah Dhaba'an alleged the
tank fired back at militants that were launching attacks from the school at a
military vehicle. President Hadi dispatched a military committee to investigate
the incident; however the committee has not announced its findings.
Last Friday confrontations broke out between
the two sides and over nine people were killed including three women.
A number of political parties and civil society
organizations condemned the attacks launched by the 33rd armor
brigade against civilians and called for ousting General Dhaba'an who was also
accused of burning protest site in Taiz city during the uprising against Ex
president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 before the general and his armor brigade
were moved from Taiz to Dale as part of a wide restructure process of the
Yemeni army.
A sit in was launched at the National Dialogue
Conference before starting activities of the conference on Saturday. The sit in
was organized by the representatives of the southern movement to the NDC but
all NDC members took part in it. They called for moving the 33rd
armor brigade from Dale, ousting General Dhaba'an and referring him to the
judiciary for the crimes he committed in Dale. Representatives of the southern
movement to the NDC called for trying general Dhab'an and threatened to
withdraw from the conference if not firm measures would be adopted regarding
what has been happening in Dale.
"If the authority could not remove
Dhaba'an during the past three weeks what would it do to implement the NDC's
outcomes", they vowed.
Member of the NDC Abdulhamid Huraiz considered
the silence of the government and president Hadi about what has been happening
in Dale as approval for what has been happening there.
"The Southern Resistance affirms that
operations of the southern resistance will continue until removing the Yemeni
occupation off the Southern Arabian, militarily, politically and economically
and liberating the last inch of the Southern Arabian national soil and
restoring the independence of the Southern Arabian State," the statement
read.
"I'm talking on behalf of the southern
movement and I'm with the demands of trying Dab'aan the killer and removing the
brigade centered in Dale and we request from president Hadi to interfere for
this issue and to withdraw this brigade to another place and to form a new
brigade comprising from the sons of that region," said Dr, Yasin Makawi , vice president of the NDC.
This escalation coincided with the conclusion
of the National Dialogue Conference a matter that indicated attempts to
sabotage the political dialogue process.
The UNSC council had warned former president
Ali Abdullah Saleh and former Vice president Ali Salem al-Beidh from disturbing
the political settlement.
The Yemeni government accuses al-Beidh of
receiving financial support from Iran to disturb the security, stability and
unity of Yemen, an accusation that al-Beidh has not denied.
An Iranian diplomat was assassinated on a main
road down town in Sana'a on Saturday.
The Yemeni government had detained a number of
ships carrying weapons from Iran to Yemen the last of them was Jihan 1 that was
captured in the Yemeni maritime territorial in 2012. Investigations uncovered
that most of the weapons were of Iranian origin.
