Iranian proxies in Yemen attack the city of Lawder Relieve pressure on the norm

Iranian proxies in Yemen launched a surprise attack on the positions of the southern forces in Aqba al-Halhal in Lawder on Sunday evening, resulting in two martyrs and three wounded, according to the correspondent of the newspaper Al-Youm Al-Thamen, a medical source at Mahnaf Hospital in the city, while Abyan police announced the expulsion of Al-Qaeda (Ansar al-Sharia) from the strategic partridge camp, which was considered a last stronghold for the organization.

A medical source and a tribal source told our correspondent that two fighters from the southern forces, namely "Ali Hussein al-Barakani," and the injury of Samir Saleh Abdullah al-Barakani, in addition to other fighters.

Tribal sources in Lawdar considered the Houthi attack, which came a day after threats by the Iranian militia leader, as an attempt to relieve al-Qaeda, which is receiving painful blows in the last strongholds.

The sources told Alyoum8th newspaper that the Iranian arms have been mobilizing for days in Al-Bayda province, coinciding with the launch of Operation Haws Swords to clear the hideouts of the last base in eastern Mudiya.

The official spokesman of the southern armed forces, Lt. Col. Mohammed al-Naqib, said in a statement to Alyoum8th: "In a desperate attempt to relieve pressure on the elements of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, or rather to cover the escape of those defeated terrorist elements from the scene of Operation Siham Al-Sharq and secure their access to the Houthi camps in Al-Bayda governorate, the Houthi militias received painful blows on Sunday evening while trying to carry out a failed attack on our forces stationed in the Al-Halhal front, northeast of Lawdar district in Abyan governorate."

Military operations on various fronts are proceeding as planned, and Operation Swords of Hoss continues to cleanse mountains, hills and valleys of al-Qaeda elements, al-Naqib said.

Political analyst Saeed Bakran said the Iran-aligned Houthis had previously presented themselves to America, the West and the international community as the only, effective and reliable party to fight terrorism and fight al-Qaeda ISIS militants."

"The Iranian proxies in Yemen today are raising the slogan that al-Qaeda and terrorism are just an illusion that does not exist and that (the cycle of violence) is nothing but an American play," Bakran said. "This speech confirms the Houthis' involvement in supporting al-Qaeda, camouflaging it and denying its existence, and this was the Muslim Brotherhood's disguise and is still about the existence and danger of terrorism and extremism," he said.

"Turning Houthi-controlled areas in al-Bayda into launching havens for al-Qaeda's operations towards Abyan and Shabwa reveals the falsity of this extremist group and its convergence with international terrorism at points of participation and intersection of interests, and that all its propaganda about its fight against terrorism is just a tactic deceived by some international powers," the southern political analyst said.

Southern forces announced the downing of one of al-Qaeda's most prominent camps in Abyan province on Saturday evening, after widespread clashes in which the militant group lost many of its positions but was still capable of carrying out attacks and assassinations.

"The military and security forces participating in the Hoss Swords Campaign were able to clear al-Qaeda's Hajla camp in Abyan's Mudiya district," said Abyan police chief Brigadier General Ali al-Dheeb.

"The forces are continuing their security operations with the aim of completing the clearing of all remote areas in the valleys and reefs to which the terrorist organization elements are fleeing," he said.

On Monday, the STC launched a military campaign against what it called "al-Qaeda elements" in the central districts of Abyan province, where the council named the campaign's "swords of Huss", saying it was an "extension of the Eastern Arrows Campaign" it launched last year against "terrorist elements".

On Thursday, Abdul Latif al-Sayed, commander of the Security Belt in Abyan province, and his companions, Captain Salah al-Yousifi, head of Security Belt operations in Abyan, tribal Sheikh Muhammad Kreed al-Jaadani and their companions, were killed in the explosion of an explosive device planted by al-Qaeda elements.

On September 18, 2022, the southern forces announced their full control of the strategic Omran camp, the largest stronghold of al-Qaeda in Abyan.