New wave of air strikes shake Yemen capital

Forty-five soldiers from the United Arab Emirates’ military, 10 from Saudi Arabia and five from Bahrain have been killed while taking part in a military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in the deadliest day for Gulf forces since the conflict began.

Last Friday, a Houthi attack on a weapons depot in Marib claimed the lives of 60 soldiers from the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi and Yemen.

The Houthis have admitted that Iran is supportive of their movement, but have denied fighting as a proxy on behalf of Tehran – the Saada-based group has long complained of economic and political marginalisation in Yemen.

Residents said explosions could be heard all night and buildings had been leveled but there were no immediate reports of casualties as most people in the area had been evacuated.

On Monday, coalition warplanes again targeted rebel positions across Yemen.

According to the Pan-Arab AL Sharq al Awsat newspaper, the Saudi government has deployed special forces in Marib, backed by armoured vehicles and tanks, confirmed also by the Emirates Wam news agency.

Sandwiched between rebel forces in Jawf and cities to the south like Bihan and Sirwah, which lie on supply routes with the rebel-held capital, the coalition forces in Marib are unable to advance north, independent security officials said.

Despite the severity of the attack, the UAE is not expected to end its involvement in Yemen, Mustafa Allan, director of the National Security and Terrorism Studies Department at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, told Bloomberg. The coalition launched the bombing campaign when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia in March after the rebels entered his last refuge, Yemen’s second city Aden. The Houthis, who belong to the Zaydi branch of Shi’ite Islam, deny acting on behalf of Tehran and say they revolted against corruption.

Friday’s losses marked the heaviest since the UAE’s foundation as an independent state in 1971.

“We fully support the political objectives of the coalition to restore unconditionally the legitimate government in Yemen and withdrawal of Houthis from the territories seized by them, including Sanaa“.

The UAE denounced the “cowardly” attack, which it said would not sap its commitment to the coalition’s mission to restore exiled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. “Marib will fall to the coalition”.

Sunday’s air strikes on Sana’a mark the latest intensification of a war that has killed more than 4,500 people, devastated Yemen’s already-crumbling infrastructure, and called its future as a unified state into question.