ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Monday appointed a new military chief-of-staff to fight against the Shiite Houthi rebels in the war-torn Arab country.
The state-run Saba News Agency reported that Hadi, who is currently operating from Saudi capital Riyadh, appointed Brigadier Tahir Al-Qili as the new military chief-of-staff, replacing Major General Mohamed Maqdashi who supervised several anti-Houthi military campaigns.
Hadi has promoted Maqdashi to the adviser to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and a representative in the joint forces command of the Decisive Storm, according to Saba.
Opposition Yemeni sources said that the newly-appointed chief-of-staff has strong relations with the Muslim Brotherhood group and may further destabilize the situation between Hadi and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In the past months, the UAE refused to cooperate with Brotherhood leaders in the southern Yemeni provinces and labeled them as terrorism supporters.
Media outlets close to the Brotherhood repeatedly accused the UAE of occupying southern Yemeni cities by training anti-government militias particularly in Aden province.
Yemen's internationally-backed government, allied with the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for more than two years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels over control of the country.
The coalition began a military air campaign in March 2015 to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to the power.
The coalition also imposed air and sea blockade to prevent weapons from reaching Houthis, who had invaded the capital Sanaa militarily and seized most of the northern Yemeni provinces.
UN statistics show more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the coalition intervened in the Yemeni civil war that also displaced around 3 million.
The impoverished Arab country is also suffering the world's largest cholera epidemic since April, with about 5,000 cases reported every day.
