Breaking news
Reconnaissance troops from Saudi Arabia could have been deployed in Yemen 0405151.
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Defence & Security News - Saudi Arabia
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| Reconnaissance troops from Saudi Arabia could have been deployed in Yemen. | |||
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According CBS News, reconnaissance troops from Saudi Arabia arrived in the southern Yemen's port city of Aden, Sunday, May 3, 2015. This is the first ground troops sent to Yemen since the beginning of Saudi-laid airstrike campaign.
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 A Saudi soldier aims sniper rifle from behind sandbag barricade in the border with Yemen in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. |
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The objective of Sunday's landing was not immediately clear, but Yemeni military officials said the coalition troops would help train forces loyal to the country's internationally recognized leader, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Saudi officials declined to immediately comment on Sunday's landing. However, military and security officials have repeatedly said a ground operation would follow the Saudi-led air campaign. The troops used at least four vehicles to move around Aden and included Yemenis who had been serving in the armed forces of Gulf Arab members of the coalition and were likely serving as guides, the officials said. They said the troops carried assault rifles, took photos of the areas they toured and carried topography equipment. Saudi Arabia, spearheading a coalition of nine Arab states, began carrying out airstrikes in neighbouring Yemen on 25 March 2015, heralding the start of a military intervention codenamed Operation Decisive Storm. The intervention began in response to requests for assistance from the internationally recognized but domestically contested Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. Warplanes from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain are also taking part in the operation. Somalia has made its airspace, territorial waters, and military bases available for the coalition to use. The United States has provided intelligence and logistical support, including search-and-rescue for downed coalition pilots, and accelerated the sale of weapons to coalition states. On 21 April 2015, Saudi Arabia announced an end to Operation Decisive Storm, saying the intervention's focus would "shift from military operations to the political process. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have stated their readiness to participate in a ground campaign in Yemen. Sudan has also said it is stationing ground troops in Saudi Arabia to contribute to the intervention. |
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