NO GROUND TROOPS DEPLOYED IN YEMEN: EGYPT’S SISI

Kafr Al-Sheikh, Egypt, 29 Jumadil Akhir 1436/18 April 2015 (MINA) – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Friday implied that Egypt has not sent ground troops to fight in an ongoing Saudi-led military offensive against Yemen’s Houthi militant group.

“Egypt is only participating in Operation Decisive Storm with air and naval forces,” Al-Sisi said in a speech at a military academy in the eastern Kafr al-Sheikh city.

“An announcement will be made if any other forces were deployed in the operation,” he asserted, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Al-Sisi’s visit to the military academy comes two days after two cadets were killed and three others injured when a bomb was detonated near a bus boarding a group of cadets.

Since March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have been pounding Houthi positions across Yemen with airstrikes.

The coalition has said it was ready to consider the deployment of ground troops in Yemen if the situation in the country required the deployment.

Riyadh says the anti-Houthi campaign comes in response to appeals by embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention against the Houthis.

The Houthis, for their part, have denounced the offensive as an unwarranted “Saudi-American onslaught” on Yemen.

Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen’s Houthi insurgency. (T/P001/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)