US-Saudi Coalition Deploys Troops to Socotra

YemenExtra

US-Saudi Coalition has deployed troops to Yemen’s Socotra amid anger over the UAE’s military build-up on the island as rivalry grows between the two allies.

Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the coalition in Yemen, said on Sunday that Saudi forces had landed on Socotra on a mission to train and support its mercenaries.

He said that Saudis, Emiratis and their mercenaries would carry out joint training exercises. This comes as these forces have squared up against each other in the past and clashed in Aden.

The Saudi deployment comes after the UAE sent some 300 soldiers, along with tanks and artillery, to Socotra earlier this month.

US-Saudi coalition along with UAE have been waging a deadly war on Yemen since March 2015 with an excuse of returning Hadi to govern the country.

The war has killed and injured over 600,000 civilians, according to the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights. The US-Saudi aggression has triggered what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Reports have suggested that the UAE has been actively cementing its presence in Socotra since the very beginning of the Saudi-led military campaign in March 2015.

The UAE occupied Socotra seeking to illegally exploit the natural resources of the island and turn the place into a permanent military outpost-cum-holiday resort.

The UAE deployment sparked angry reactions among the residents of Socotra where residents took to the streets to protest the increasing presence of the Emirati forces.

Source : al-Masirah.net.