ADEN // A fresh contingent of Emirati forces has taken up positions at Aden’s presidential palace hours after arriving in the southern port city on Thursday afternoon.

The new troops are specialised in protecting high-ranking officials and important institutions, a source in the office of Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi told The National on Friday.

The source said the arrival of the special forces came as work by the UAE to rebuild Aden’s presidential palace was nearing completion.

“Work on the presidential palace is now 95 per cent complete and it will soon be ready to receive the president and the government,” he said.

The palace, which was severely damaged by Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia-led coalition air strikes during the battle for control of the city, would be completely restored in two weeks, the source said.

Yemeni prime minister Khaled Bahah told Sky News Arabia on Wednesday that the government would be returning to Aden in coming days.

The government first fled the city when the Houthis advanced on Aden in March, seeking exile in Riyadh. However, after returning in mid September they were soon forced to leave after a suicide bombing attack on their hotel that was claimed by ISIL.

Several Aden residents confirmed the arrival of the new force and its deployment at the presidential palace.

Essam Al Shaeri, an official at the Aden-based Sah Foundation for Defending Rights and Freedom, said he saw many tanks and armoured vehicles manned by Emirati troops heading from the port towards the city on THursday. He visited the area of the presidential palace in Crater district on Friday morning and saw the new Emirati forces deployed around it.

“I think that these forces are the beginning of Hadi’s return to Aden,” he said.

Fisherman Saleem Mahfoodh, 29, who lives near the presidential palace, also reported seeing the arrival of Emirati forces with armoured vehicles on Thursday and said building work on the presidential palace had gone on day and night for two months.

The UAE, as a member of the Saudi-led coalition that is seeking to defeat the Houthi rebels and restore Mr Hadi’s internationally recognised government to power, has played a leading role in restoring normal life in Aden by rebuilding vital facilities and services.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, discussed the coalition’s military campaign against the Houthis in a phone call with the US president Barack Obama on Thursday. The leaders agreed on the need to de-escalate the fighting and said they would continue to work together to fight extremism and violence in the region, according to UAE state news agency Wam.

They spoke about the need to “allow for the unrestricted and expanded access of humanitarian assistance and commercial shipments, and encourage all parties to resume political negotiations aimed at ending the conflict”, the White House said.

Bahrain, another coalition member, on Thursday sent a frigate and troops to take part in the Yemen campaign. The troops are from the Royal Guard, the Bahraini state news agency BNA said.

Yemen’s government has meanwhile begun implementing Mr Hadi’s directive to integrate fighters from the pro-government resistance into the regular military. Authorities have opened two camps to recruit and train resistance fighters to join military brigades in Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Al Dhale and Taez provinces, the Yemeni news agency reported.

Resistance fighters in Taez on Friday arrested a Houthi leader in Al Misrakh area who hails from the province. Al Sheik Al Gaberi tried to block a rural road used by the resistance to send the military reinforcements into Taez city.

The new route was opened recently by using using armoured vehicles supplied by the UAE in an attempt to break the siege of the provincial capital by the Iran-backed rebels and allied renegade units of the Yemen military loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

foreign.desk@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting from Wam