Al-Mokha (South24 Center)

Tariq Saleh, a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), launched several Saudi-funded development projects in the city of Al-Mokha in Taiz on Thursday (May 21), and laid the foundation stones for other projects along the West Coast.

The projects, funded by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY), include the completion of marine piers on Greater Hanish and Zuqar islands, the Al-Nasr Road project in its first phase, which links Jabal Al-Nar to Al-Suqya, as well as the Al-Mokha–Al-Hamli road in Mawza District.

They also include the construction of a rural hospital in Al-Wazi’iyah District under the name “Saudi Hospital,” and the provision of operational budgets for educational complexes.

According to the National Resistance media office, the launch ceremony was attended by Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan and the commander of the operational base, Saudi Brig. Gen. Saad Al-Qahtani.

The launch came one day after the unveiling of a new naval formation assigned to operate in the Red Sea sector as part of the National Resistance forces led by Tariq Saleh. New boats also entered service.

Tariq Saleh, the nephew of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, leads the National Resistance forces, one of the most prominent northern military formations opposed to the Houthis.

His forces are deployed around Al-Mokha and nearby coastal areas overlooking the Red Sea in Hodeidah and Taiz. They fought alongside the Southern Giants Brigades against the Houthis before the Stockholm Agreement on Hodeidah, which halted the fighting in late 2018.

The National Resistance forces, composed mainly of former Republican Guard units and the Tihama Resistance, emerged after the collapse of the alliance between the late former president and the Houthis in 2017. They later became one of the main military components of the anti-Houthi camp on the West Coast.

Over the years, they received financial and military support from the United Arab Emirates.

Saleh’s appointment to the Presidential Leadership Council in April 2022 gave his military influence a formal political position within Yemen’s internationally recognized authority.

Saleh’s appearance at the launch of Saudi-backed projects comes after months of sharp political divisions within the Presidential Leadership Council, following the events in Hadramout and Al-Mahra last December, when Southern forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council extended their control toward the two governorates for a full month before withdrawing early this year under the weight of Saudi airstrikes.

A few days before those strikes, four PLC members — Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, Abdulrahman Al-Mahrami, Faraj Al-Bahsani, and Tariq Saleh — issued a joint statement rejecting decisions made by PLC Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi, who resides in Riyadh. These decisions included a 24-hour deadline for UAE forces to leave Yemen and the declaration of a state of emergency. The four members described them as “unilateral and illegal.”

Later, Tariq Saleh visited Saudi Arabia and met with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman. The move was seen as an indication of efforts to contain the situation with Riyadh.

Over the past few months, Tariq Saleh and the National Resistance forces have faced media campaigns by activists and outlets affiliated with the Islamist Islah Party, including calls on Saudi Arabia to target the National Resistance in Al-Mokha.

In previous years, the UAE had played a prominent role in financing and implementing service and development projects in Al-Mokha and other areas along the West Coast, mainly through the Emirates Red Crescent. These projects covered roads, electricity, water, health, education, and support for fishermen and farmers, including the rehabilitation of the international coastal road.

The UAE also supported the electricity sector in Al-Mokha through a 20-megawatt solar power project in 2019 and later funded an additional 40-megawatt station that reached advanced stages, before the recent events in the South led to the freezing of UAE projects in Yemen.