Leaders edge toward formation of new government as fighting rages in Hodeidah against Houthi militia AL-MUKALLA: The Yemeni government has urged the pro-independence Southern Transitional Council (STC) to immediately put into place security and military arrangements approved under the Riyadh Agreement to help smooth the way toward forming a new administration. Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr, a senior adviser to the Yemeni president and himself a former president of the country, said on Tuesday that the internationally recognized government had honored its political commitments under the agreement by naming a new governor and security chief for Aden. But he signaled that the new government could not be named until the STC had implemented its security and military commitments, such as withdrawing forces from Aden and Abyan. “We hope that military measures will follow in Abyan and security in Aden to ensure the return of the president, parliament, and the government to the temporary capital of Aden,” Bin Daghr said in a tweet, pointing out the significance of the Riyadh Agreement in bringing together Yemenis in their mutual battle against the Iran-backed Houthis. The Yemeni official thanked Saudi Arabia for bridging differences between the two groups and helping them overcome difficulties in the implementation process of the agreement. In Aden, STC leaders had previously denied repeated government accusations that they were delaying withdrawals, claiming that some government military units involved in fighting in Abyan had not returned to their bases in the central city of Marib. During a meeting on Saturday with the Saudi military committee monitoring the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement in Aden, Ahmed Saeed bin Breik, the STC’s acting president, said the council had submitted proposals for accelerating the fulfilment of the Riyadh Agreement, disengagement of forces, and repositioning troops. At the same meeting, Ahmed Lamlis, Aden’s new governor and the STC’s secretary-general, said that he had ordered the removal of military and security checkpoints from streets in Aden and was working on restoring vital services. Under the Riyadh Agreement, designed to defuse tensions between the government and STC in southern Yemen, the council will be included in a new government in exchange for pulling out of Aden and Abyan and allowing the government to return to Aden. Fighting between the two sides broke out in May when government forces pushed toward Aden in a move aimed at expelling separatists from the strategic city. In June, the Saudi-led coalition deployed military officers to monitor a truce in Abyan and the withdrawal of arms and weapons from Aden. Meanwhile, fighting raged on Wednesday in different areas of the western city of Hodeidah where the Iran-backed Houthis have been pushing to drive government forces out of liberated parts of the city and the districts of Hays and Al-Durihimi. The Joint Forces, an umbrella term for three major military units in the country’s western coast, said dozens of Houthis, including three field military leaders, were killed in fierce clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday and government forces had foiled Houthi attempts to advance in the province. In southern Taiz, official news agency SABA reported on Tuesday that government troops had made limited gains in the city.