Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Foreign troops in Yemen: when Western governments heart foreign intervention in the Middle East

"Apparently frustrated with an impasse in the combat — as well as growing international condemnation of airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians — the Saudi-led coalition recently increased its assistance to fighters battling the Houthis in Aden. Fighters recaptured the city from the Houthis last month. Some of the Yemeni fighters were trained in the Persian Gulf, and the United Arab Emirates supplied them with armored vehicles. Small numbers of Saudi and Emirati troops have been fighting in Yemen for at least the last few weeks, according to southern Yemeni commanders. The arrival of the Emirati brigade, though, marked the first time a large foreign force had entered the ground war."