Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council said late on Monday it had launched a military operation in Abyan “to cleanse it of terrorist organizations.”

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) deployment in Abyan province follows gains in neighboring Shabwa by the Giants Brigade against rival factions including the Islah Party.

The STC said its campaign would combat terrorist groups in Abyan and secure roads in the south.

Abyan this year saw several attacks against soldiers that authorities suspect were carried out by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which had used the ongoing war to enhance its influence.

The Arab-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions into hunger.

President of Yemen Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi on Monday issued a notice, seen by Reuters, to STC leader and council member Aidarous al-Zubaidi saying all military operations should be halted until the implementation of a troop redeployment in the south stipulated under a power-sharing pact brokered by Riyadh in 2019.

Instability in the south complicates United Nations efforts for a permanent ceasefire to pave the way for political negotiations to end the war. A UN-brokered truce between the warring parties has largely held since April.