You have to admit that these soldiers sound determined.
Sep 16, 2015 10:56pm IST
Related: WORLD, YEMEN
Arab solidarity, fear of Iran bring hi-tech Gulf troops to Yemen desert
SAFER, YEMEN | BY NOAH BROWNING
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Soldiers loyal to the Yemeni government take positions during fighting with Houthi militiamen in the Yemeni frontline province of Marib September 16, 2015.
REUTERS/STRINGER
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The glitzy skyscrapers and 21st century comforts of Dubai feel very distant from the barren sand dunes of Marib in central Yemen, the latest strategic prize in a regional power struggle pitting the wealthy Gulf Arab states against Iran.
But Salem, who plies the featureless landscape in an SUV that pulsates with American hip hop music, has no regrets about joining thousands of other young soldiers from the United Arab Emirates in one of the poorest corners of the Arab world.
"Me, I don't know very much about Yemen, but Sheikh Mohammed knows much more and we must do our duty," said Salem, referring to the ruler of Dubai who is also the prime minister of the UAE.
"I know Yemen's an important country and next to all of ours. Whatever happens here we can't ignore - it will spread to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Iran won't stop until it spreads its Persian empire over everywhere here," said Salem, a bearded youth wearing a camouflage head wrap and designer sunglasses.
Armed with high-tech Western weaponry, Gulf Arab soldiers are fighting with newfound determination against what they see as the expanding influence of Iran, their non-Arab and Shi'ite Muslim arch-foe, in a war that has ravaged Yemen for six months.
The oil-producing province of Marib has become a key battlefield between Iranian-allied Houthi militia and a coalition of Yemenis and Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini troops. Marib forms a gateway to the Yemeni capital Sanaa 120 km (75 miles) to the west, which the Houthis seized last year.
Mindful of similar sectarian-fueled conflicts fragmenting other Arab states such as Iraq and Syria, the Gulf Arab and Yemeni fighters see their common cause in Yemen helping to revive a sense of Arab soldarity.
"They're not foreigners to us, they're brothers," said UAE-trained Yemeni soldier Abdul Wahad al-Shadaddi, sitting in the bed of a Toyota pickup with comrades who, like him, tote AK-47s and have bandoliers of bullets draped over their shoulders.
"For six months we've fought and suffered in Marib, keeping just a few small districts until they came to our aid. Because they fight for a just cause, God will grant them and us victory, and our province will be ours again in two weeks."
The coalition wants to restore a Yemeni government ousted by the Houthis in March, a development seen by the Sunni Gulf Arab states as a sign of Shi'ite Iran's expansionist intentions. Tehran denies providing military support to the Houthis.
The coalition intervention in Yemen was initially limited to air strikes but now also includes a ground war and, despite the Gulf Arabs' far superior firepower, it is not proving easy.
A Houthi missile killed more than 60 Gulf Arab troops stationed in Marib province on Sept. 4, including 52 Emiratis, the worst loss ever suffered by the UAE military, one of the most advanced in the Arab world.
The losses have deepened the sense of personal engagement in the war among the Gulf troops.
"IT'S A PERSONAL THING"
"We're not going to forget our blood. It's now a personal thing for the soldiers, (even though) we came to support the Yemenis," said Brigadier General Ali Seif al-Kaabi, commander of UAE forces in the area.
Of the 5,000 Gulf Arab troops now stationed in Yemen, al-Kaabi said some 4,000 came from his country.
Asked whether the Emirates risked being dragged into a quagmire in Yemen, a ruggedly mountainous and politically fractious backwater which has chewed up Arab armies before, al-Kaabi was defiant.
Continue reading at:
Arab solidarity, fear of Iran bring hi-tech Gulf troops to Yemen desert
Sep 16, 2015 10:56pm IST
Related: WORLD, YEMEN
Arab solidarity, fear of Iran bring hi-tech Gulf troops to Yemen desert
SAFER, YEMEN | BY NOAH BROWNING
left
3 of 3
right
Soldiers loyal to the Yemeni government take positions during fighting with Houthi militiamen in the Yemeni frontline province of Marib September 16, 2015.
REUTERS/STRINGER
left
1 of 3
right
left
2 of 3
right
left
3 of 3
right
left
1 of 3
right
The glitzy skyscrapers and 21st century comforts of Dubai feel very distant from the barren sand dunes of Marib in central Yemen, the latest strategic prize in a regional power struggle pitting the wealthy Gulf Arab states against Iran.
But Salem, who plies the featureless landscape in an SUV that pulsates with American hip hop music, has no regrets about joining thousands of other young soldiers from the United Arab Emirates in one of the poorest corners of the Arab world.
"Me, I don't know very much about Yemen, but Sheikh Mohammed knows much more and we must do our duty," said Salem, referring to the ruler of Dubai who is also the prime minister of the UAE.
"I know Yemen's an important country and next to all of ours. Whatever happens here we can't ignore - it will spread to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Iran won't stop until it spreads its Persian empire over everywhere here," said Salem, a bearded youth wearing a camouflage head wrap and designer sunglasses.
Armed with high-tech Western weaponry, Gulf Arab soldiers are fighting with newfound determination against what they see as the expanding influence of Iran, their non-Arab and Shi'ite Muslim arch-foe, in a war that has ravaged Yemen for six months.
The oil-producing province of Marib has become a key battlefield between Iranian-allied Houthi militia and a coalition of Yemenis and Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini troops. Marib forms a gateway to the Yemeni capital Sanaa 120 km (75 miles) to the west, which the Houthis seized last year.
Mindful of similar sectarian-fueled conflicts fragmenting other Arab states such as Iraq and Syria, the Gulf Arab and Yemeni fighters see their common cause in Yemen helping to revive a sense of Arab soldarity.
"They're not foreigners to us, they're brothers," said UAE-trained Yemeni soldier Abdul Wahad al-Shadaddi, sitting in the bed of a Toyota pickup with comrades who, like him, tote AK-47s and have bandoliers of bullets draped over their shoulders.
"For six months we've fought and suffered in Marib, keeping just a few small districts until they came to our aid. Because they fight for a just cause, God will grant them and us victory, and our province will be ours again in two weeks."
The coalition wants to restore a Yemeni government ousted by the Houthis in March, a development seen by the Sunni Gulf Arab states as a sign of Shi'ite Iran's expansionist intentions. Tehran denies providing military support to the Houthis.
The coalition intervention in Yemen was initially limited to air strikes but now also includes a ground war and, despite the Gulf Arabs' far superior firepower, it is not proving easy.
A Houthi missile killed more than 60 Gulf Arab troops stationed in Marib province on Sept. 4, including 52 Emiratis, the worst loss ever suffered by the UAE military, one of the most advanced in the Arab world.
The losses have deepened the sense of personal engagement in the war among the Gulf troops.
"IT'S A PERSONAL THING"
"We're not going to forget our blood. It's now a personal thing for the soldiers, (even though) we came to support the Yemenis," said Brigadier General Ali Seif al-Kaabi, commander of UAE forces in the area.
Of the 5,000 Gulf Arab troops now stationed in Yemen, al-Kaabi said some 4,000 came from his country.
Asked whether the Emirates risked being dragged into a quagmire in Yemen, a ruggedly mountainous and politically fractious backwater which has chewed up Arab armies before, al-Kaabi was defiant.
Continue reading at:
Arab solidarity, fear of Iran bring hi-tech Gulf troops to Yemen desert
