Yemeni members of the southern separatist movement, loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, sit atop to a tank on Sunday in Aden.

The Yemeni commander of a vast military district covering half the country’s border with Saudi Arabia pledged support on Sunday to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, local officials said.

The announcement puts at least 15,000 troops in the desert and mountain border area on the same side as Saudi Arabia, which backs Hadi.

“Brig. Gen. Abdulrahman Al-Halily of the First Military District announced his support for constitutional legitimacy as represented by President Hadi,” one of the officials told Reuters.

The declaration was also broadcast on official radio in the city of Seiyun, the main city of the Hadramawt valley area where the district’s main military base is located.

Most of Yemen’s military is loyal to powerful ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose forces are fighting alongside the Shiite Houthi militia in battles stretching across Yemen’s south and east.

But the defection of the northeastern troops brings to about 10 the number of divisions that back Hadi. It may point to an increasing sense in the military that momentum favors the president, who resides in exile in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Yemeni Army units aided by Popular Resistance forces in the eastern governorate of Maarib succeeded at seizing control of some posts which Houthi militias and forces of Saleh were controlling, eyewitnesses told Al Arabiya News Channel.

Sources added that tribes and armed forces in support of Hadi managed to control the point of Nabaa and also forced Houthi militias out of Al-Jmydr post, one of the most significant Houthi posts in the area.

They also said that tribes and armed forces in support of Hadi currently besiege the Mas camp, which was formerly run by the republican guards, and which the Houthis are using as an arms warehouse and for training. This happened after coalition warplanes targeted the camp and its surroundings with five aerial attacks on Saturday morning.

In another development, Saleh’s party said it welcomes a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire in the country, urging all involved in the conflict, to observe it.

[wpResize]

Related articles across the web

• Yemeni troops pledge support for exiled Hadi
• Yemen's Saleh may possess chemical weapons
• Yemen crises: Houthi rebels advance to port Aden
• In Cahoots With the Houthis
• Air strikes hit military targets in Yemen capital
• Yemen: 'Houthi's Condemn Security Council Ban on Importing Weapons '