Yemen’s government forces retake Aden from UAE-backed separatists

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said government forces retook Aden’s airport, its presidential palace and surrounding areas from forces aligned to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Wednesday, it added.

“The National Army & the security forces impose full control over Aden’s districts amid great public satisfaction and welcome,” he said in a post on Twitter.

He tweeted a video of people holding pictures of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden.

Despite al-Eryani’s claim, security officials told The Associated Press news agency the separatists still controlled Jabal al-Hadid military camp, one of the main military facilities Aden.

They said the STC-aligned Security Belt militia were also still in their camps in Aden.

The fighting between Hadi’s forces and the separatists has threatened to open a new front in the complex war in the Arab world’s most impoverished country.

The two sides are nominal allies in a Saudi-UAE-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels who control the country’s north.

Hadi’s government was removed from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014. His administration subsequently relocated to Aden.

But the separatists, who seek self-rule, turned on the government in July after accusing a party allied to Hadi of being complicit in a Houthi attack on southern forces.