12 Saudis martyred in Yemen operation
Coalition investigating cause of Black Hawk helicopter crash
ASaudi Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a military operation in Yemen yesterday, resulting in the martyrdom of 12 officers, Saudi news agency SPA said.
It quoted a Coalition Forces Command statement as saying the aircraft came down in Marib province, east of the capital Sana’a. “As a result, four officers and eight noncommissioned officers from the Saudi armed forces were martyred,” SPA said. The Saudi news agency said the cause of the crash was under investigation. The death toll was one of the largest in a single incident involving Saudi forces since a coalition of Arab states began military operations against the Al Houthi militia and their allies in 2015 to restore Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said as he began a Middle East tour yesterday that US wants a return “as quickly as possible” to UN-backed Yemen peace talks. “It has gone on for a long time, we see Iranian supplied missiles being fired by the Houthis into Saudi Arabia and this is something, with the number of innocent people dying inside Yemen, it has simply got to be brought to an end,” Mattis said on his way to Riyadh.
Washington wants a return “as quickly as possible” to UNbacked Yemen peace talks, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said as he began a Middle East tour yesterday in Saudi Arabia.
The United States provides limited military support to a Saudi-led coalition which for two years has been fighting in support of Yemen’s government against militia supported by Iran.
Today, Mattis will meet the kingdom’s top leaders in Riyadh.
Washington provides intelligence as well as aerial refuelling to coalition warplanes conducting air strikes in Yemen with American-supplied weapons.
Rights group criticism
Rights groups have repeatedly criticised the coalition bombing campaign in Yemen for causing civilian casualties.
Asked by reporters about the chance of stepping up American support, Mattis did not reply and instead put the accent on a return to peace talks.
“Our aim is that this crisis can be handed to a team of negotiators under the aegis of the United Nations that can try to find a political solution as quickly as possible,” he said as he flew to Riyadh.
Seven ceasefires alongside peace efforts by the United Nations have so far failed to stop the fighting.
It is necessary to end the “firing of missiles provided by Iran against Saudi Arabia” as well as “the death of innocent people in Yemen”, Mattis said.
Yemen’s Al Houthi militia allied with troops loyal to expresident Ali Abdullah Saleh have fired ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia.
Militia have also shot shortrange rockets over the kingdom’s southern border, killing at least 130 soldiers and civilians. Washington alleges that Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, has shipped missiles to Yemen but Tehran denies the charge.
A United Nations Panel of Experts in January reported that it “has not seen sufficient evidence to confirm any direct large-scale supply of arms” from Iran.