Sanaa – Qatar has sent 1,000 ground troops to Yemen, a move which will escalate Gulf Arab intervention in Yemen’s war.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The development comes ahead of a planned offensive against Iranian-backed Houthis holding the capital Sanaa.
Military sources told newsmen that Qatari troops were on their way to Yemen and preparing to join a new push on Houthi positions in Sanaa.
It would be recalled that Qatari pilots had joined months of Saudi-led air strikes on the Houthi militia, which seized Sanaa in 2014 and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile in March.
The first reported involvement of Qatari ground forces in Yemen coincided with an intensification of the conflict a few days after a rocket strike in Marib killed dozens of soldiers including Saudis and Emiratis.
Meanwhile, analysts have welcomed the development saying it was a positive move.
Mr Jean-Marc Rickli, a professor at King’s College London who also lectures at the Qatar National Defence College, told newsmen that it was Qatar’s first deployment of ground forces in Yemen.
“This force will probably take part in the overall war effort to retake the capital after the coalition successfully recaptured Aden last month,” Rickli said (Reuters/NAN)
