File Photo: Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi. Photo courtesy of Saba news agency.
Those removed include Major General Talib Barjash, commander of the Second Military Region, and Major General Mohsen Marsa’a, commander of the Al-Ghaydah Axis. Both officers were referred for investigation, according to the report.
Al-Alimi, who also serves as commander-in-chief of Yemen’s armed forces, took the measures amid efforts to reassert military and security control in the southern governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahra.
The dismissed officials are accused of siding with the STC’s attempt to seize territory and advance its push for southern secession.
Earlier on Thursday, the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said STC leader Aidaros Al-Zubaidi had fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Al-Zubaidi was removed from the PLC on Wednesday and accused of high treason. Coalition aircraft later struck his home province after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks, according to the coalition.
The STC’s offensive last month deepened instability in Yemen and exposed widening rifts between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two Gulf states that have led the coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and continue to control large parts of the country.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are now backing rival factions within Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which includes the STC and is based in the southern city of Aden.
In December, STC forces, backed by the UAE, advanced into Hadramout and Al-Mahra, bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman, before being pushed back by Saudi air strikes and a counter-offensive by pro-Saudi ground forces.
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