Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The Port of Mukalla in Hadramawt Governorate witnessed successive explosions on Tuesday following a military operation carried out by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition. The operation targeted weapons and combat vehicles that arrived from the United Arab Emirates via two ships and were unloaded inside the port without the necessary official permits.
Footage circulating online showed thick smoke and rising flames following the operation, as military equipment caught fire in the vicinity of the port. Despite this, no official statements regarding human casualties have been issued so far, according to military sources.
The Head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council had requested the Coalition to carry out this operation, which was announced by the official spokesperson for the Coalition Forces, Major General Turki al-Maliki. Al-Maliki emphasized that the primary objective of the operation is to protect civilians in the governorates of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra from the risks arising from the smuggling of unlicensed weapon shipments.
This operation comes within the context of growing security and political escalation in Hadramawt Governorate, which recently saw the Southern Transitional Council (STC) take control of some of its areas. This development has raised fears of widening the circle of conflict and complicating the security situation in eastern Yemen, amid ongoing tensions between various factions.
According to military and security statements carried by the official news agency, this step by the Coalition serves as an indicator of the determination of regional and international powers to control the flow of illegal weapons in the region and contain conflicts that threaten the stability of Yemen’s eastern governorates.
