UAE FORCES INTERCEPT IRAN-MADE DRONE IN YEMEN
Military escalation may ‘take peace off the table,’ says UN envoy
Emirati forces in Yemen intercepted a drone yesterday believed to be targeting Arab coalition forces deployed along the country’s west coast.
The drone, which the military identified as an Iranianmade Qusaf-1, was carrying explosives.
Military sources told Sky News Arabia that the intended target was coalition forces along the Red Sea coast making a push for the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
The Arab coalition is preparing for a renewed push to capture Hodeidah from the Iranbacked Houthi rebels.
The UAE, as part of the coalition, intervened in the civil war in Yemen that began in March 2015. It backs the internationally-recognised government forces fighting the Iranianallied Houthi rebels. Iran has denied supplying weapons to the Houthis.
“The Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, continues to counter these Iranian capabilities, which pose a direct threat not only to the Yemeni forces and people, but also threaten the Red Sea coast shipping lane’s movement, along with civilian infrastructure,” the state news agency Wam reported.
This could disrupt plans by United Nations’ special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, to present to the UN Security Council a peace negotiation framework within two months.
“Our concern is that any of these developments may, in a stroke, take peace off the table,” Mr Griffiths said.
“We all need urgently and creatively to find ways to diminish the chances of these game-changing events, upsetting and derailing the hopes of the great majority of Yemenis.”
Military movements of forces in Yemen are on the increase and the prospect of intense military operations around the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah “may soon be forthcoming”.
Mr Griffiths, a former British diplomat who replaced Mauritania’s Ould Cheikh Ahmed last month, briefed the UN Security Council for the first time on Tuesday.
News of the renewed initiative to capture Hodeidah prompted Yemenis living under Houthi control in the city and the surrounding region to flee their homes.
Reports came out last year that the Houthi leadership was intentionally deploying rebel militias in densely populated civilian areas to deter coalition attacks.
Yemenis living in Hodeidah and surrounding areas have also suffered from a disruption in public service facilities since the rebels captured the governorate in 2015. To help those fleeing the Houthis, the Emirates Red Crescent this week distributed relief aid to families who have taken refuge in the Shabwa province, which is under coalition control.
The ERC’s relief efforts came in response to calls for help by the displaced, and are part of UAE efforts to relieve the suffering of Yemenis.
Mohammed Al Neyadi, head of ERC in Shabwa, highlighted the importance of the latest relief work in helping displaced families by providing them with their basic daily needs.
In response to Mr Griffiths’ assertion that military escalation might derail a peace plan, Yemen’s UN ambassador,
Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany, said: “We don’t have the intention to advance on Hodeidah.”
Coalition and Yemeni forces have made territorial gains in recent months against the Houthi rebels in an armed push moving northward from the Bab Al Mandab towards Hodeidah on the Red Sea, where 80 per cent of Yemen’s food imports arrive.
In January, Houthis threatened to blockade the port city if coalition forces continued their advance towards it.
The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than two million and driven the country to the verge of famine.
The Houthis have repeatedly fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, which the United States and United Nations experts said were of Iranian origin – a claim Tehran denies.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that she would continue to push the Security Council for accountability regarding the attacks.
“To achieve enduring peace in Yemen, Iran must stop its interference and its violations of the arms embargo this council imposed,” Ms Haley said.
Arab coalition and Yemen government forces are continuing to push the rebels, who threatened to blockade Hodeidah