ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- A military committee of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition arrived on Thursday in Yemen's southern port city of Aden as tension escalated between local Yemeni military factions, a government official told Xinhua.
The local government official said on condition of anonymity that "a number of military officials of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition arrived as a team to closely watch the situation and prevent any attempts of military escalation in southern Yemen."
"Tension escalated recently between the government forces and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) troops in Abyan and both sides dispatched reinforcements to the fighting areas," the source noted.
The Saudi committee will also work to provide coalition with an integrated plan to start implementing the military part of the Riyadh Agreement through conducting mutual troops withdrawals and disengagement to create an appropriate climate ahead of forming a new government, according to the official.
On Tuesday, clashes renewed between forces of the Yemeni government and troops from the STC in the country's southern province of Abyan.
The renewed confrontations are threatening to collapse the mechanisms proposed by Saudi Arabia last month to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh power-sharing agreement signed between the two Yemeni warring rivals in November last year.
The new mechanisms include maintaining the cease-fire and de-escalation between the government and the STC, which came into effect on July 22.
Last year, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and the Yemeni government to hold reconciliation talks, which succeeded in reaching a deal to form a new technocrat cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern areas including the capital Sanaa. Enditem
