A report says more American military forces have arrived in Yemen’s port city of Aden to join the contingent of U.S. troops allegedly fighting al-Qaeda militants in the country’s south.
Yemen’s al-Masirah television channel published footage showing American troops arriving in Aden.
The report further said the new batch is apparently linked to the U.S. troops already deployed in al-Anad Airbase and other Yemeni areas, adding that the deployment is aimed at reinforcing the U.S. forces claiming to be fighting al-Qaeda terrorists.
The TV report added the development reveals the true intention of the U.S.-backed Saudi aggression against Yemen, which is to gain dominance over the Arabian Peninsula state and loot its wealth.
The deployment of U.S. troops to Yemen, the report said, shows Washington is pursuing its own interests in the war-torn country and seeks to expand its military presence there.
The Pentagon has been providing logistics and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, the kingdom’s impoverished southern neighbor, which has killed at least 11,400 civilians since its onset in March 2015, according to a latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.
In the latest development, Yemeni security and medical officials say at least 13 civilians have been killed by a Saudi-led military coalition air raid in a western port city.
The officials told the Associated Press on Monday that airstrikes hit two homes in rural areas north-east of Hodeida.
Among the victims are women and children, according to a medical official in al-Thawra hospital.
The airstrikes, which took place on Saturday, also destroyed telecommunications towers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to the press.
Yemen’s army and fighters of the popular committees have carried out retaliatory attacks against military positions on the Saudi territory amid the kingdom’s ongoing airstrikes.
According to Yemen’s al-Masirah news website, the Yemeni forces fired artillery shells at a Saudi army base in the southwestern region of Asir.
The Yemeni forces also launched mortar attacks against Saudi military positions in the southwestern province of Najran.
Yemeni snipers killed seven Saudi soldiers in Asir and the province of Jizan.
Meanwhile, the head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council warned Saudi Arabia and the U.S. that the country’s forces are determined to reclaim its soil, one step at a time.
Saleh Ali al-Sammad made the remarks in a Facebook post, saying, sooner or later, Yemen will defeat all those who violate its sovereignty under whatever pretext.
“Yemen will take back its soil from Al Saud and its American masters,” he said.
Sammad was referring to the controversially close alliance between Riyadh and Washington, which has seen the latter generously arming the former during its unbridled bombing of Yemen and even lending advisory support to the bombardment.
The U.S. approved more than $20 billion in military sales to the kingdom in 2015 alone.
