Arab special forces arrive in Aden
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Dozens of Arab special forces soldiers arrived in Aden yesterday and deployed alongside local fighters against Yemen鈥檚 Houthi militia, a militia spokesman said, signaling a major escalation in the country鈥檚 war.
Saudi Arabia denied that a major ground operation was under way by the anti-Houthi coalition it leads, but declined to comment on special forces 鈥 a topic Riyadh has consistently refused to address in the more than one-month-old conflict.
In Aden, Ali al-Ahmadi, the spokesman for the Southern Popular Resistance, a group defending the southern port city against an advance by the Iran-allied Houthis, said: 鈥淛oint land forces from the Arab coalition landed in Aden on Sunday and are now participating with the southern resistance to fight around Aden airport.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a limited force 鈥 40-50 from special forces.鈥
The coalition, which seeks to restore the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, includes eight other Arab states and is receiving logistical support from the United States, Britain and France.
It has refused to rule out the eventual use of ground troops, but to date it has mostly used air power and some artillery on the Saudi border to bombard Houthi militia and allied army units.
Aden, a hotbed of anti-Houthi sentiment, has been a flashpoint since the war began on March 26, when the coalition began attacking Houthi forces opposed to Saudi-backed Hadi, who was based in Aden for several weeks before fleeing to Riyadh.
The world鈥檚 top oil exporter and arch Sunni Muslim regional rival of Shiite Iran, Saudi Arabia says it was concerned for its own security and Yemen鈥檚 stability after Shiite Houthi forces captured the capital and began advancing across the country, on its southern border, in September.
Fighting around Yemen has killed more than 1,000 people, including an estimated 551 civilians since the bombings started, the United Nations said on April 24.
Iran, which backs the Houthis, does not recognize Hadi and has portrayed the air strikes as an intervention in Yemen鈥檚 internal affairs.
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