UAE Armed Forces launch ground offensive in Yemen

The United Arab Emirates’ Armed Forces launched a “successful” ground offensive against Houthi rebel militias in Yemen, official news agency WAM reported on Sunday.

The operation took place in Marib as part of the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Houthis and seeking to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government in Yemen.

“The General Command of the UAE Armed Forces announced that an Emirati servicemen was martyred during the operations,” the report added without providing further details.

The ground offensive comes even as the UAE mourns the loss of 52 soldiers who died in Yemen earlier this month.

The Emirati soldiers were killed on September 4 after a rocket was launched at an ammunition depot of the military brigade in Marib, causing severe explosions. About 10 Saudi soldiers, five Bahraini soldiers and four Yemeni soldiers were also killed in the attack.

On Sunday, the UAE Cabinet offered condolences to the government and the families of the soldiers who were killed.

In a statement, the cabinet said: “Yemen will remain a strategic depth of the GCC and the first line of defence against foreign intervention, as well as an essential component of the GCC joint security. Hence, the defence of Yemen and restoration of legitimacy and stability is part and parcel of protecting the security and gains of all the Arab Gulf states.”

It added: “The UAE is keen to back the sisterly states to restore security and stability to the Arab region, particularly Yemen. It will continue all efforts to achieve that through supporting the United Nations’ efforts to bring peace and stability.”

Addressing the 144th Session of the Arab League’s Council in Cairo on Sunday, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash also stressed that the UAE would continue its role in Yemen.

“The bloods of our martyrs, who fell in defence of the right, justice and legitimacy in Yemen, will not go in vain, rather they will further stiffen our resolve and will within the Arab coalition to remove injustice, support the Yemeni people and rescue Yemen from the clutches of the outlaw militias which committed destruction and corruption in the country,” he said.