Tareq Saleh Leads ‘Republican Guards’ against Houthis on Yemen’s West Coast

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
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Tareq Saleh Leads ‘Republican Guards’ against Houthis on Yemen’s West Coast

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)
General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. (Reuters)

General Tareq Saleh, the nephew of slain former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, joined the fighting against the Houthis militias in the battle for the western coast.

Saleh is leading the “Republican Guards” unit, a name he chose for his troops, who used to make up the special forces that were loyal to the late Saleh.

This development coincided with the launch of the December 2 news website that specializes in covering the field operations of this unit.

The website revealed that the Houthis threatened to kill Tareq Saleh’s detained relatives in Sanaa, who include his son, brother and cousins, but he was undeterred and insisted on joining the battle against the Iran-backed group.

Sources loyal to the General People’s Congress told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saleh’s forces breached on Thursday the Houthi frontlines at the Khalid bin al-Walid camp and Jabal al-Nar on the western coast. His forces had launched their attack from their main base in the city of al-Mokha, where they had arrived days earlier from Aden.

Observers said that their advance is aimed at covering their back from the East, by seizing Houthi positions west of Taiz, before turning north towards al-Hodeidah.

December 2 is named after the date the late Saleh announced that he severing his alliance with the Houthis and prepared to open a new chapter in ties with the Saudi-led Arab Coalition aimed at liberating Yemen. His decision ultimately cost him his life and he was killed by the Houthis on December 4.

The late Saleh’s uprising was the “spark that launched the new revolution” against the Houthis, said the website. “This uprising can only end with the recapture of Sanaa and ending the Houthi existence.”

“The national resistance forces established by General Tareq Saleh is a significant addition to the military effort to support the resistance in the South and the Arab coalition forces,” it continued.

It confirmed previous Asharq Al-Awsat reports that Tareq Saleh and his officers stripped themselves of their military ranks so that they could stand on equal footing with their soldiers.

They had vowed to restore their ranks once Yemen is liberated from the militias.



Heavy Rains Flood Khartoum Streets, Exposing Decomposed Bodies

A resident attempts to drain floodwaters outside home in Omdurman (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A resident attempts to drain floodwaters outside home in Omdurman (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Heavy Rains Flood Khartoum Streets, Exposing Decomposed Bodies

A resident attempts to drain floodwaters outside home in Omdurman (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A resident attempts to drain floodwaters outside home in Omdurman (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Torrential rains battered several parts of Sudan’s Khartoum state this week, flooding residential neighborhoods and streets, disrupting movement, and sweeping away war debris, including decomposed corpses believed to belong to paramilitary fighters.

The rainfall began as sanitation workers were carrying out maintenance on stormwater drains. But before completing their task, the downpour caught them off guard, forcing them to begin draining the water with basic tools already in use.

Local authorities said residents in the East Nile district reported seeing decomposed bodies swept into drainage canals. Officials suspect the corpses may be those of fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which controlled swathes of the capital during its year-long war with the Sudanese army.

The RSF had held large parts of Khartoum since conflict erupted on April 15, 2023. But by March this year, the army claimed to have regained full control of the city. Since then, thousands of displaced families have returned home, according to state authorities, with more returning each day.

This year’s rainy season arrives amid the devastation of war, which has crippled already fragile infrastructure, particularly flood drainage systems. Even before the conflict, seasonal rains often caused widespread destruction in Khartoum, damaging homes and public facilities and resulting in casualties.

Despite extensive water pooling in open areas, Sudan’s Civil Defense Authority reported no fatalities or property losses. “Water was drained naturally, without any intervention from Civil Defense teams,” said Major General Qureshi, deputy director of emergency operations, in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat.

Qureshi added that his teams remain on high alert, as a precaution, although Nile water levels remain stable.

Residents attempted to clear water from their homes by removing weeds and waste blocking drainage channels.

“During the RSF's control of the city, we tried to dig small trenches to divert the rainwater toward the main drains,” said resident Mohamed Elias. “But the blocked drains caused water to stagnate for months, leading to insect infestations and disease.”

Although thousands have returned to Khartoum, the national government has not fully re-established itself in the capital, which it fled in favor of Port Sudan, a Red Sea city now serving as a temporary seat of power. Khartoum’s governor, Ahmed Othman, previously told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government’s return to the capital would be gradual.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said over one million displaced Sudanese have returned to their areas of origin across the country, including in Khartoum.