Yemen's president sacks ministers and army chiefs after failed offensive

Yemen's UN-recognised government has dismissed senior political and military figures, including its long-serving information minister, in an attempt to recover territory lost to the Houthis in September and break a four-week siege of Taiz, the country's third largest city.

President Rashad al-Alimi replaced information minister Muammar al-Eryani with Prof Salem al-Awlaki, a former civil service minister who was a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) from 2017 to 2019. Alimi also appointed two other southerners as ministers for local administration and the civil service, and named new heads of the civil aviation authority, the ports of Aden and the transport ministry.

Military commanders dismissed

The president sacked Yusuf al-Sharaji, the military figure responsible for the Taiz front, and Abu Bakr al-Jabouli, a brigadier responsible for the Tor al-Baha axis. Widespread accusations had been made about al-Sharaji's failure to manage operations, resulting in the fall of several areas and districts to the Houthis. The task of lifting the siege of Taiz and coordinating forces has been handed to Maj Gen Rashad al-Yousfi, a career officer.

A counteroffensive launched on 5 October and aimed at liberating the entire country from Houthi control has failed amid fighting that has left thousands dead on both sides. The air superiority of the government's ally Saudi Arabia – which has had to fend off near-daily Houthi attacks on its airports and military bases – has not translated into progress on the ground. Reuters reported on Monday that Houthi forces were only about 37 miles (60km) from Aden, the nominal seat of the UN-recognised government.

Southern tensions

The burst of dismissals and appointments reflects military reverses and possibly a perceived need to be more sensitive to the demands of southern Yemenis. The country was divided in two between 1967 and 1990, and a strong movement built around the banned STC seeks to revert to that division or create a more federated country. The government has become dependent on southern troops to fend off Houthi advances, but these forces insist they will fight only to defend land inside former South Yemen.

Fresh claims were aired this week that STC leaders were coerced by the Saudis into dissolving the organisation against their will. Not all southern separatists support the STC, which overreached itself in January, according to the report.

The fighting has also exposed strains among forces on the government's side. It has been claimed that Abu Zara'a, the leader of the Southern Giants, has fallen out with the Homeland Shield Forces, which are funded by Saudi Arabia and affiliated with Abdulrahman al-Lahji. After the Homeland Shield experienced heavy losses, al-Lahji filed an official report accusing Abu Zara'a of treason and warning that the situation in Dhubab, close to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, had become extremely dangerous for the government. Repeated claims that control of the strait had been wrested back from the Houthis were contradicted by the evidence.

Some of the most senior figures in the UN-backed government are largely based in hotels in Riyadh rather than operating permanently from inside Yemen, and the government depends on Saudi money to pay salaries. Critics say the administration has become a "hotel government". Its ruling executive, the presidential leadership council, met for the first time in months in Riyadh earlier this week.

Source: The Guardian.