Iran rejects ‘fabricated’ report on transferring Syria fighters to Yemen
Iran dismissed as “fabricated” a report published by a Turkish news agency which claimed that the Islamic Republic is transferring fighters from Syria to Yemen.
In a post on its Twitter account, the Iranian Embassy in Ankara said it “categorically rejects the news published by Anadolu
Agency about the transfer of fighters from Syria to Yemen by the Iranian Armed Forces, noting that such a claim is a sign of ignorance regarding the facts on the ground”, Press TV reported.
“This fabricated claim contradicts the Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach to the catastrophic and inhumane war against the Yemeni people. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always called for an end to the war and supported UN efforts towards finding a political solution.”
The statement came two days after Anadolu Agency alleged that Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) had sent some 120 fighters from Syria to Yemen to fight in the ranks of the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Citing local sources, the report claimed that the fighters will be sent to the conflict zones in Yemen after a week of training in the capital, Sana’a.
It further alleged that more fighters could be dispatched to Yemen in the near future depending on the performance of the first group.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and with arms and logistics support from the US and several other Western countries.
The aim was to return to power the Saudi-backed former regime and crush the popular Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The offensive has failed to achieve its goals, but pushed Yemen to the brink, killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed the impoverished state’s infrastructure.
Currently, 80 percent of the Yemeni population — including 12.4 million children —are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Since the beginning of the Saudi-led military aggression, Iran has repeatedly stressed that the Yemen crisis cannot be settled militarily, calling for the cessation of the war and the removal of the tight naval and air blockade on the country as well as intrayemeni dialogue.