Off the wire
• Economists in G20 meeting optimistic about China's economy  • Urgent: 6 Syrian security personnel killed by suspected Druze militants in Swaida city  • Teenager arrested in Spain before travelling to join IS  • Weather information for Asia-Pacific cities  • News analysis: British Hinkley Point power generation to be delayed due to costs concern  • Iran eyes full membership in SCO: Rouhani  • Spotlight: Xi's speech on China's V-Day commemoration highlights aspiration for peace: experts  • China-Botswana military exchanges contribute to bilateral relationship  • Vietnam, Philippines to set up strategic partnership in November  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  
You are here: 　 Home

Yemeni president arrives in UAE day after deadly attack on coalition forces

Xinhua, September 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Yemen's exiled President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi arrived in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, a day after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces suffered its biggest loss of soldiers in war-torn Yemen, state news agency WAM reported.

Hadi came here to offer condolences over "the martyrdom of a number of UAE Armed Forces servicemen taking part in the Arab coalition's Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen," said the report.

The UAE said that 45 of its soldiers fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen were killed in an arms depot blast on Friday.

The explosion took place in Marib province of central Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia, when Houthi rocket fire hit a weapons store at a military camp.

The UAE government has ordered a three-day national mourning starting on Saturday, and all flags in the country will fly half-mast.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition comprising nine Arab states to support Yemen's "legitimate" government of President Hadi.

The coalition has been airstriking on a daily basis the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group across Yemen since March 26, when Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge.

The coalition said its intervention aims to restore Hadi's authority in the country.

The Shiite armed group seized much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa last September, and ousted Hadi and his government.

The group said it was a revolution against corrupt officials loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United States. Endit