UAE pounds Yemen; 10 Saudi troops killed

9/6/2015 9:31:53 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)A Yemeni man walks amid debris following air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Sana’a yesterday.

SANA’A: Saudi Arabia’s military said yesterday that 10 of its troops were killed in a rebel missile strike in Marib a day earlier in Yemen even as UAE warplanes carried out air strikes on rebels as Emiratis mourned 45 of their soldiers.

It was the first public acknowledgement by the Saudis that they have ground troops in Yemen where they lead a coalition targeting Houthis and their allies.

“Ten Saudi soldiers from the Arab coalition forces were martyred” in the attack on the weapons depot Saudi military spokesman Brig Gen Ahmed Assiri said.

He told Saudi online media that the war against the rebels would not ease. “The mission of the coalition forces is to restore peace and stability to Yemen” daily Al Riyadh quoted him as saying. “They will continue their military operations until their objectives are achieved.”

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. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels hailed the strike as “revenge” for six months of deadly coalition air raids.

Friday’s losses were the heaviest since the formation of the UAE in 1971 and as the bodies arrived home three days of national mourning began. In Abu Dhabi an honour guard stood by as pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffins off a military aircraft. Huge crowds attended the funerals as the “courage” and “bravery” of the fallen were hailed on social networks.

The British embassy said in a tweet that its flags in Dubai and Abu Dhabi had been lowered to half mast as a mark of respect.

“A cowardly attack will not deter us nor will it stop us from realising our goals” vowed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan acting armed forces chief vowed that “these events will only make us more steadfast in our stand for justice”.

The coalition also launched almost-continuous airstrikes in Sana’a demolishing at least one building. Shock waves from the explosions caused several small buildings to collapse as well. The air strikes targeted weapons storage facilities and a police department in Sana’a which the rebels had turned into a military headquarters.

The strikes knocked down a nearby house killing four civilians and wounding three from the same family. The Houthi-controlled Interior Ministry said 27 people have been killed by the intensified airstrikes since Friday.

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