Those prisoners were fighting directly under the command of Riyadh in that battle, and they fell into the grip of Yemen's Armed Forces in Operation “Victory from God” in late August 2019. The Saudi delegation in the negotiations denied its relationship with the prisoners of the battle of “Wadi Al Abu Jabara.”

Likewise, the delegation of the pro-aggression government refused to discuss the issue of these people, claiming that they “do not belong to the Ministry of Defense,” which sparked great discontent among their families, who accused Riyadh and the Saudi-backed government of disavowing their children.

 

It is worth mentioning, here, that these prisoners were among the formations established by the former commander of the "Joint Forces", Prince Fahd bin Turki, in 2018, and their leadership was entrusted to the head of the "Joint Mobilization Committee at the southern border" of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Major General Saad Al Jaber.

The delegation of the pro-aggression government had previously refused to talk about them in the previous negotiating rounds regarding the prisoners, which followed the signing of the “Stockholm Agreement” in October 2020, without giving a reason.

However, the Ministry of Defense in that government returned and responded to a request submitted by the “Kitaf Prisoners Association”, in early 2021, by saying that all those who were captured in the battle of Wadi Al-Jabara belong to the “Fatah Brigade” that was led by Raddad Al-Hashemi, a Salafi leader. He is close to Riyadh, as well as the “Unity Brigade” led by Abu Ubaidah al-Maabri, who is also a Salafist leader. “They do not belong to the Fifth District and are not affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.”

 

As a result of this response, the families of the prisoners organized a number of vigils in the governorates of Taiz and Ma'rib, calling for the speedy release of their children in any upcoming exchange deal, while Ansarullah had previously released a number of them during the past two years, after the Saudi warplanes targeted, late 2019, some of them in the community college prison in Dhamar governorate, with a series of airstrikes that killed and injured about 170 of them.

In the same regard, the “SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties” confirmed, earlier, that Saudi Arabia and the pro-aggression government had neglected the prisoners of Wadi Abu Jabara, and had refrained from discussing their issue in all rounds of negotiations with “Ansarullah”, considering this negligence “unacceptable”, and demanding the inclusion of these prisoners within the exchange negotiations. 

The organization reminded that many of the Yemenis who fought at the southern border within brigades under direct Saudi supervision, whose leadership was entrusted to Salafist personalities, do not have any previous combat experience.

For “disowning” those, Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the Salafist movement loyal to it may change, which has recently become its “strike arm” in the southern governorates, as it mobilized thousands of its affiliates within the “National Shield” forces, in the conflict for influence and control taking place between it and The UAE.

 

Source: The Lebanese “Al-Akhbar” newspaper translated by Almasirah English web