Mr. Ali Abdullah Al-Kathiri, Acting President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Chairman of the National Assembly, met today, Monday, newly graduated Second Military Region commanders from the ninth batch as infantry company commanders and the fifth air defense batch, held at the Command and Staff Institute in the capital, Aden, led by Brigadier General Waheeb Saleh bin Slam, Deputy Head of the Southern Armed Forces' Moral Guidance Department.

In the meeting attended by a Second Lieutenant Hussein Ali Al-Dhaibi, representing the Hadrami Elite Forces (HEF), Mr. Al-Kathiri welcomed the officers, congratulating them on their graduation and outstanding performance in military courses and expressing pride and honor in this constellation of military commanders, who will form a 
new tributary to our Southern Armed Forces, Security Services, and HEF, stressing their key role in bolstering the capabilities and in safeguarding the foundations of security, stability, and hard-won gains of the South while combating terrorism and extremism in all its forms.

Al-Kathiri stressed that the STC, led by President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, Supreme Commander of the Southern Armed Forces, is doing their best to ensure that the armed forces and security services, with their various members, are highly qualified to keep pace with military, technological, and technical developments at all levels to enhance their military capabilities, stressing in this context the necessity of doubling security and military efforts to enable them to fully carry out their responsibilities in various field tasks.

At the end of the meeting, the graduating officers presented Al-Kathiri with a commemorative plaque, expressing their gratitude for his tireless efforts, encouraging military personnel for training, easing the difficulties facing them, and his dedication in developing the Southern Military Forces and security services in preparation for the independent federal state of the South