Sawt Falasteen - Yemen presidency says Saudi-backed forces retake key province

The Saudis and Emiratis have long supported rival factions in Yemen's fractious government, and a December offensive by the UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to capture Hadramawt had angered Riyadh and left the oil-rich regional powers on a collision course.

But Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, said in a statement that Saudi-backed National Shield forces achieved "record success" in "retaking all military and security positions in the province" bordering Saudi Arabia in the operation launched Friday.

Two government military officials also told AFP earlier that neighbouring Mahra province and its armed forces, which had also fallen in with the STC during its recent advance, had switched their loyalty to Saudi-backed forces without any resistance.

One of the two officials said the Mahra forces had "lowered the separatist flag and raised the Yemeni flag".

The Saudi-led coalition has launched repeated warnings and air strikes over the past week, including one on an alleged Emirati arms shipment to the STC.

On Friday, a strike on the Al-Khasha military camp in Hadramawt left 20 dead, according to the separatist group.

On Saturday, a military official with the STC told AFP Saudi warplanes had carried out "intense" air strikes on another of the group's camps at Barshid, west of Mukalla.

The official said the strikes resulted in fatalities, without giving a number of those killed.

- 'Retreat of forces' -

Footage aired by the Aden Independent Channel showed the moment one strike hit the STC forces, igniting a massive orange fireball and sending a plume of black smoke into the sky.

According to an AFP journalist, gunfire could be heard in Mukalla early Saturday. While residents described a security breakdown there accompanied by looting, Saudi-backed forces appeared to advance with little resistance.

Hani Yousef, a Mukalla resident, said he "saw retreating forces using their military vehicles to transport motorbikes and household items, including refrigerators and washing machines".

Alimi, in his statement, urged "strict measures to secure state institutions and public facilities, and to protect public and private property".

Earlier in the province's city of Seiyun, 160 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of Mukalla, a government military official announced pro-Saudi forces had taken control of the airport, targeted in Friday's strikes, as well as administrative buildings.

The STC military official said "there has been a retreat of our forces," but that at the time the UAE-backed forces were still trying to resist the advance.

"We carried out a complete withdrawal from the areas of Al-Khasha... as a result of pressure from Saudi air strikes on us," he added.

Residents in Seiyun also said they heard gunfire and clashes.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday called for dialogue between factions in southern Yemen.

- Call for dialogue -

In a statement posted to social media, the Saudi foreign ministry called for a "conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause".

Alimi called on the STC to "commit to the path of dialogue and to roll back its unilateral measures in the various governorates".

Earlier Saturday, the UAE urged Yemenis to "halt escalation and resolve differences through dialogue".

In separate statements, the Gulf states of Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain voiced their support for dialogue in Riyadh.

Egypt's foreign ministry also urged dialogue and voiced its support for the "unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the Republic of Yemen".

The STC has pushed to declare independence and form a breakaway state, which would split the Arabian Peninsula's poorest state in two.

On Friday the separatists announced the start of a two-year transitional period towards declaring an independent state and said the process would include dialogue and a referendum on independence.

STC president Aidaros Alzubidi said the transitional phase would include dialogue with Yemen's north -- controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels -- and a referendum on independence.

But he warned that the group would declare independence "immediately" if there was no dialogue or if southern Yemen was attacked again.

The Saudi-backed coalition was formed in 2015 in an attempt to dislodge the Houthi rebels from Yemen's north.

But after a brutal, decade-long civil war, the Houthis remain in place while the Saudi and Emirati-backed factions attack each other in the south.

D.Qudsi--SF-PST