Muslim Brothers break ceasefire in Yemen with bombing in Abyan region

The Muslim Brothers in Yemen have broken the ceasefire that was reached in April. The country is in the midst of negotiations to form a new consensus government by the end of August, but a bombing this Tuesday in the Yemeni governorate of Abyan has halted the process, according to the digital newspaper Al-Ain News. Separatists in the south have accused the government of the attack and suspended peace negotiations with the executive of Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi. 

Military sources have confirmed to Al-Ain that the bombing by the Muslim Brothers' militia on the fronts of Abyan was not a mere skirmish but a complete battle designed to put an end to the Riyadh Agreement signed last November. Sources indicate that Brotherhood reinforcements arrived on Tuesday night from Shabwa to Abyan with the aim of starting a military confrontation and bombing the positions of the southern forces. 

Until the Riyadh Accords, the Yemeni conflict had become a three-way confrontation; the confrontation between the Yemeni government and the Hutu rebels was joined by the dispute with the separatists of the Southern Transition Council (partly supported by the Emirates until recently), who took over the south of the nation after rising up against Al-Hadi's government because they understood that the southern area was being forgotten in all respects by the central administration. 

Now, the Southern Transition Council (STC), the entity formed by the Yemenis who are committed to the separation of the south of the country, has suspended its participation in the Riyadh Agreement and is accusing the Yemeni government of the attack in Abyan, according to a message sent by the STC to Saudi Arabia, which sponsored the agreement together with the Yemeni executive. 

The attacks took place on Tuesday night on the Al-Tariqa fronts and the coastal sector. The spokesman for the southern forces in Abyan, Muhammad al-Naqib, has stated on Twitter that the Muslim Brothers have intensified their large-scale attacks, using medium and heavy weapons in the central and coastal sectors, despite the fact that the southern forces have adopted a policy of containment and avoid direct confrontation. The captain has pointed out that the Muslim Brothers have taken advantage of the successive military truces to mobilise thousands of members of al-Qaeda and ISIS on the Shakra front, with the aim of weakening the peace agreements, according to Al-Ain News. 

The consultations to form a new Yemeni government as envisaged in the Riyadh Agreement signed between the "legitimacy" camp and the Southern Transition Council (STC) are clashing with the escalation operations instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Qatari current in government in recent days, according to the digital version of The Arab Weekly. On Sunday afternoon, the provisional Yemeni capital of Aden witnessed violent clashes in the Mansoura district between security forces and armed elements who attacked a police patrol. 

The clashes in Aden have coincided with the resumption of fighting in the governorate of Abyan between the government forces supported by the Muslim Brothers and the CTS forces, in addition to an escalation financed by Qatar of the Muslim Brothers in the south of the governorate of Taiz (north of Aden), according to The Arab Weekly. 

The Yemeni conflict has shaken the whole region and several countries have tried to influence some of the parties for their own interests. Turkey, Iran and Qatar, together with the Muslim Brothers, have tried to support the Hutids, the country's Shiite militia, in their uprising against the government to take over some areas of the country, according to a report by The Arab Weekly. Under this pact, the Hutu militia, with Tehran's support, would control the north of the country "in exchange for supporting the Muslim Brothers' ambitions to acquire the southern regions", where it would have Turkish and Qatari support.

Along these lines, Ankara entered into a conflict with Abu Dhabi over the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, a geostrategic enclave to the south of Yemen that is considered a suitable entry zone for any invasion of the country. Turkey wanted to maintain the influence of the Muslim Brothers in this territory, which would allow it rapid access to the rest of Yemen; whereas the UAE sought to protect the archipelago from Turkish ambitions and, to this end, subjected it to its "full sovereignty", as confirmed by Yemeni government sources, which also accused the Gulf country of "attempting to separate the province from Yemen and establish military bases on the pretext of protecting it from Turkey and Qatar".