Qatar sends 1000 troops to Yemen

Date

9/7/2015 11:43:40 PM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

SANA’A: Qatar has sent 1000 ground troops to Yemen Al Jazeera television said ahead of a planned offensive against Iranian-backed Houthis holding the capital Sana’a.

Qatari pilots had already joined months of Saudi-led air strikes on the Houthi militia which seized Sana’a a year ago and then advanced across much of the country forcing President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi into exile in March.

Military sources told Reuters that Qatari troops were on their way to Yemen and preparing to join a new push on Houthi positions in Sana’a. They said the forces had not yet entered the Arabian Peninsula country.

But a regional Yemeni official in oil-producing Marib province east of Sana’a said the Qatari contingent had already “crossed the Al Wadia border post” between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and was heading to Marib — where Hadi loyalists have been preparing for the thrust towards Sanaa.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite network also said Qatari and Saudi reinforcements had crossed the frontier.

The first reported involvement of Qatari ground forces in Yemen coincided with an intensification of the conflict a few days after a rocket strike in Marib that killed dozens of soldiers including Saudis and Emiratis.

Saudi Warplanes renewed strikes on Houthi targets across Yemen and Houthi-run media said the raids killed at least 12 people including women and children in the central province of Ibb.

Al Jazeera’s English website said 1000 Qatari soldiers backed by 200 armoured vehicles and 30 US-made Apache helicopters had been deployed. But the foreign ministry made no immediate comment.

A defence source said the number of Qatari troops was less than 1000. “They are as of now not deployed in Yemen but in Saudi Arabia to protect the border” he added. The Saudi-owned Al Hayat newspaper said yesterday that Saudi Arabia had also sent “huge reinforcements” of elite forces along with Qatari troops to Marib.

“Final preparations are being made for a decisive battle before moving on to liberate Sanaa” Al Hayat said. Jean-Marc Rickli a professor at King’s College London who is teaching at Qatar National Defence College said it was Qatar’s first deployment of ground forces in Yemen.

“This force will probably take part in the overall war effort to retake the capital after the coalition successfully recaptured Aden last month” he added.

Reuters

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