THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said Thursday that its military coalition will scale down operations in Yemen.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners would continue to provide air support to Yemeni forces battling the Houthis and their allies.
“The aim of the coalition is to create a strong cohesive government with a strong national army and security forces that can combat terrorism and impose law and order across the country,” Al-Assiri said.
Only “small” teams of coalition troops would remain on the ground to “equip, train, and advise” Yemeni forces, which are gradually replacing coalition forces, he said, adding that the coalition’s primary task will from now on be to help build a Yemeni army.
“This takes time and it needs patience,” he said.
Scaling down military operations, however, will not impact on the size of coalition naval and air assets deployed to protect Yemen’s porous coastline on the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, he stressed.
The White House welcomed the pledge to wind down the coalition’s air war in Yemen.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House welcomed a statement from the coalition spokesman that the year-old campaign was nearing the “end of the major combat phase.”
The Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in Yemen a year ago, launching first an airstrikes campaign in support of the internationally recognized government, then sending in elite forces, mostly from Gulf states, in an effort to roll back the terrorists’ gains.
Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and later swept across much of this country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners would continue to provide air support to Yemeni forces battling the Houthis and their allies.
“The aim of the coalition is to create a strong cohesive government with a strong national army and security forces that can combat terrorism and impose law and order across the country,” Al-Assiri said.
Only “small” teams of coalition troops would remain on the ground to “equip, train, and advise” Yemeni forces, which are gradually replacing coalition forces, he said, adding that the coalition’s primary task will from now on be to help build a Yemeni army.
“This takes time and it needs patience,” he said.
Scaling down military operations, however, will not impact on the size of coalition naval and air assets deployed to protect Yemen’s porous coastline on the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, he stressed.
The White House welcomed the pledge to wind down the coalition’s air war in Yemen.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House welcomed a statement from the coalition spokesman that the year-old campaign was nearing the “end of the major combat phase.”
The Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in Yemen a year ago, launching first an airstrikes campaign in support of the internationally recognized government, then sending in elite forces, mostly from Gulf states, in an effort to roll back the terrorists’ gains.
Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014 and later swept across much of this country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
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