Aden: The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen sent a “limited” force to the city of Aden yesterday, Yemeni sources said, in what would be its first ground deployment inside the country.
A spokesman for the coalition denied that a major ground force has landed, refusing to comment on “ongoing operations”.
But Yemeni government and militia forces said several dozen troops had landed in the main southern city, with some sources saying they were to assist in fighting for its international airport.
An AFP journalist saw several men in the vicinity of the airport dressed in military-style clothing, wearing helmets and carrying sophisticated weaponry. “A limited coalition force entered Aden and another force is on its way” to the port city, a Yemeni government official in Aden said, requesting anonymity. A leading member of the so-called “popular committees” militia supporting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said the newly deployed troops “will start helping us in fighting the Houthis and Saleh’s forces”.
The troops will mainly back pro-Hadi fighters around the rebel-held airport, which has changed hands several times and was again the focus of heavy fighting on Saturday night, he said. Other militia commanders confirmed that a few dozen coalition soldiers, mostly Saudis and Emiratis of Yemeni origin, were on the ground in Aden.
Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri denied a major ground force had landed in Aden. “I can assure you that no (coalition) forces disembarked on the ground in Aden today,” he told Saudi news agency Al-Ekhbariya. But in comments to Al Jazeera television, Assiri said that “all options are open”. “The coalition leadership will not spare any effort to support the resistance and achieve positive results on the ground,” Assiri said.
Yesterday, coalition warplanes pounded rebel positions in and around the airport as clashes raged on, said a pro-Hadi military official.
Medics in Aden said that at least 18 people, most of them civilians, were killed since Saturday and 65 others wounded.
Human Rights Watch accused the coalition of using US-supplied cluster bombs in its operation, warning of the long-term danger to civilians.AFP
