Aden: Security Successes and Normalization of Life

On the entrances and exits of the coastal city, some young soldiers wore military suits that carried the national flag of South Yemen. There was a security presence that was not expected a few years ago as the most important Southern city used to wake up on assassination and bombing operations on an almost daily basis.

It is 2023 in Aden, the official capital of Yemen for nearly 8 years and the headquarters of the Internationally-recognized government. The city, which hosts tens of thousands of refugees, is quickly recovering with a remarkable normalization of the security conditions despite the ongoing political and military turmoil.

 

Between April of 2022 and 2023, Aden has witnessed a full year of calmness and peace with the lowest violence and crime levels in years. Over the last years, Aden has received more foreign delegations than other cities. This has denoted the security progress.

Along with Aden's public security, several security forces are active in the city, foremost of which are the Security Belt Forces (SBF), the Presidential Storm Forces (PSF) and Counterterrorism Units. The establishment of a large part of these forces was supported by the Arab Coalition, especially the UAE.

Deputy Director General of Aden Police, Brigadier General Abubakr Jabr, spoke to “South24 Center” about the big security progress in the capital. He said: "There is integrated security coordination in Aden. All security units work regularly under the supervision of Governor Ahmed Lamlas who is the Head of the Security Committee. There is a joint operation room that manages the security operations.

He added: "Many terrorism activities carried out in Aden were revealed as well as their backers. We detected the threats of assassination operations. We investigated those who were arrested and detained for their involvement in these operations that aimed to depict Aden as an unsafe city".

Major General Ali Al-Awlaki, Head of the STC’s Supreme Security Committee, noted that the progress in security performance in Aden is due to the dauntless desire of the people of Aden and Southerners in general in securing a safe, peaceful and decent civil life.

He told "South24 Center": "The security victories were achieved as people are craving for security and peace. Major security efforts have been done under the auspices of STC's political leadership. We work and we make plans and all security tracks in a way that preserves people's lives and maintains stability".

Brigadier General Jalal Al-Rubaie, the Commander of the Security Belt in Aden, explained the achievements of his forces in 2022. He told "South24 Center": "The SBF received 1003 prisoners in variant cases during 2022. Moreover, more than 200 suspicious or violating vehicles were seized over the same period".

He added: "The SBF carried out qualitative operations over the same period. This led to the arrest of more than 30 dangerous elements belonging to terrorist cells including those affiliated with the Houthi militias, espionage, monitoring, money laundering and arms smuggling”. 

"We implemented 44 security deployment campaigns to close the security loopholes in the surroundings of Aden as well as to tighten grip on weapon markets and prevent the random shooting. Furthermore, we implemented 264 security missions by the local authorities and other security bodies. This is in addition to 130 missions to secure conferences, seminars, events, trials and to protect important figures," he continued.