How did the UAE use Yemen as a transit station to Sudan? These are the details of Hemeti’s visit to Mokha

Two informed Yemeni sources revealed that the commander of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, visited Yemen in coordination with the UAE while the Sudanese army forces were participating in the Saudi-led Arab coalition operations against the Houthis since 2015, according to the Arabi 21 website.

The website quoted two sources, one of whom is a military man, as saying that "Hamidti" arrived in the western Yemeni coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, where the international shipping lane is located in 2017, at the height of the fighting that was taking place between the Yemeni forces supported by the UAE and Saudi Arabia and the Houthi militants to the west of Taiz Governorate, and in the southern regions of the coastal Hodeidah Governorate on the Red Sea.

The military source indicated that the commander of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces, who is leading a rebellion against the internationally recognized Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan, met with Major General Haitham Qasim Taher, the former Yemeni Minister of Defense, one of the separatist military leaders supported by Abu Dhabi, who was commanding two brigades on the West Coast.

While the Rapid Support Forces were participating in combat operations against the Houthis and the forces of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh at the time, as part of the forces supervised by Abu Dhabi, Riyadh's partner in the military coalition that began its operations in March 2015.

The same source, who was present during Hemeti's visit, added that the commander of the Rapid Support Forces stayed on the Yemeni West Coast for days, before leaving on a private plane to the United Arab Emirates.

A third military source told Arabi21 that the participation of Sudanese forces in the Yemen war was effective in light of the large number of troops, which included “thousands of Sudanese,” combat experience, other material and ideological incentives, and the abundance and diversity of infantry weapons.

One of the sources said that the extent of coordination and work was greater than participation in the Yemen war, but rather preparation for the Sudan battle that has been ongoing for nearly two years.

The third military source continued that Sudan's participation in the Saudi-led coalition's combat operations was represented by two types of forces; the first was the so-called "Rapid Support" forces led by Hemeti, which played a combat role on the West Coast.

The other category was "training missions from the Sudanese army to enhance training among the forces loyal to the legitimate government, as they played a major role in training the "Giants" forces (Salafist brigades supported by the UAE and Saudi Arabia) and the forces of the Southern Transitional Council, which called for the secession of the south of the country from its north before its formation in mid-2017.

The source pointed out that these missions are affiliated with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, and that part of these missions are still present, in coordination between the Yemeni and Sudanese governments, stressing that there are Sudanese forces from the regular army also present on the southern borders of the Kingdom with Yemen, and supervised by Riyadh, and the most prominent of them are artillery units.

Source: Arabi 21