Aden (South24 Center)

Two soldiers from the Shabwa Defense Forces (Southern Forces) were wounded on Monday (March 30) in a drone attack by Houthi militias targeting a military site on the Harib front between Marib and Shabwa.

A South24 correspondent reported that the attack targeted a site belonging to the 9th Brigade of the Shabwa Defense Forces along the frontline bordering Shabwa governorate, resulting in the injury of two soldiers.

This development comes less than 24 hours after the Shabwa Defense Forces announced the downing of a Houthi drone in the skies over Beihan district in Shabwa governorate.

The recent escalation is an extension of field developments witnessed on the same front, where one soldier from the Shabwa Defense Forces was killed and three others were wounded on Saturday (March 28) in a Houthi attack. On the same day, another attack in Dhalea governorate killed three Southern Forces soldiers on the Al-Thukhub front, northwest of the governorate.

This escalation coincides with warnings issued by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Shabwa on Sunday (March 29) regarding the repercussions of military arrangements supervised by Saudi Arabia that could lead to the withdrawal of Southern Forces from the frontlines with the Houthis.

In a statement, the Executive Body of the STC Local Leadership in Shabwa considered this move a "direct threat" to the field situation on one of the longest contact lines with Iranian-backed militias.