Small Arab coalition 'Special forces' ground troops deployed in Aden.

Small  Arab coalition 'Special forces' ground troops deployed in Aden. (RT).

News agencies are reporting that Saudi-led Arab coalition ground troops have been deployed to Aden. The Anadolu Agency said Arab soldiers, probably special forces, reached the coast of Al-Buraiqeh by inflatable boats. AP said the black-clad and masked troops landed Sunday in a central area between the city’s al-Mansoura neighborhood and the airport. The witnesses said helicopter gunships hovered above the landing area.

Reuters quoting a spokesman for the Southern Popular Resistance, the anti-Huthi militia force in Aden, reported that 40-50 Arab special forces are deployed and are now engaged in fighting in the area around Aden airport.

Yemen’s Aden al-Ghad newspaper reported that an Arab ground force arrived in Aden on Sunday and started fighting Huthi forces. “The first push of Arab ground force arrived on Sunday morning in Aden and began to take part in battle,” the newspaper said.

AFP reported that a limited number of Saudi-led ground troops deployed in Aden on Sunday, with another force on its way.

This is the first deployment of ground troops in Yemen since the coalition launched its campaign against the Huthi insurgents in late March.

The Saudi-led forces "will start helping us in fighting" the Houthi rebels, a leading member of the popular committees, a locally recruited militia loyal to expelled President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, also told the agency.

Similar reports appeared in the local Al-Ghad daily, which claimed the ground forces have entered the airport. The newspaper is linked to southern separatists, who demand the restoration of the southern state that merged with North Yemen 15 years ago.

Between 40-50 Arab special forces soldiers have arrived in the city, Ali al-Ahmed, spokesman for the Southern Popular Resistance, anti-Houthi group said.

However, AP reported 20 troops deployed by Saudi-led coalition in Aden.

A spokesman from the Saudi-led coalition, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, denied the information, saying the Arab states haven’t stared any major ground operation in Aden. He then added there are no foreign troops in the port city, but the coalition continues to battle Houthi rebels.

“There are no foreign forces in Aden but the coalition continues to help fight against the Houthi militia,” Asseri said in a statement. Read the full story here.

'Moderate & peaceful' Iran considers Yemen’s security as its own.

'Moderate and peaceful' Iran considers Yemen’s security as its own. (Taz).

Iran considers Yemen’s security as its own, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs said.

He also called the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s air strikes in Yemen in line with Israel’s interests.

“Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen only helps strengthening terrorist groups as well as Israel,” the Iranian diplomat said, the Islamic Republic’s Tasnim news agency reported May 2.

“We will not permit other countries to play our common security with adventuresome activities,” Amir Abdollahian added.

He further said that all parties should play constructive role to safeguard region’s security.
Tehran supports Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue in any place agreed by all local groups, Amir Abdollahian stressed.

Saudi Arabia, leading an Arabian coalition against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthis, announced April 21 that it ended the air strikes to seek a political solution in Yemen, but restarted the aerial bombardment a day later.

The Saudi-led coalition has also imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen as part of its one-month campaign to oust the Houthi rebels, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.


Iran has repeatedly called on Riyadh to immediately halt the air strikes on Yemen, saying intra-Yemeni dialog is the only way to end the current political deadlock in the Arab country.

Iran says 'warships' at entrance to key Yemen strait.

Iran says 'warships' at entrance to key Yemen strait. (IBtimes).

TEHRAN: Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab el-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, Iran's navy said Thursday.

In another sign of tensions between Gulf rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the Saudi charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry in Tehran to hear a "strong protest" over Saudi military action which prevented an Iranian plane from landing in Sanaa.

"We are present in the Gulf of Aden in accordance with international regulations to ensure the safety of commercial ships of our country against the threat of pirates," said the head of the Iranian navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

The navy has sent the Alborz and Bushehr destroyers to patrol the entrance to the strait, he added.

Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow body of water, is the key strategic entry point into the Red Sea, through which around four million barrels of oil pass each day on ships headed to or from the Suez Canal. Hmmmm......the Saudis should bomb and sink the two destroyers as well, that would be the end of their surface 'Navy'. Read the full story here.

Yemen’s gov. to present “evidence” to UN of ex-president Saleh’s Al-Qaeda involvement.

Yemen’s gov. to present “evidence” to UN of ex-president Saleh’s Al-Qaeda involvement. (Aawsat).

The legitimate Yemeni government led by internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is preparing a report to present to the United Nations detailing former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s involvement with terror groups such as Al-Qaeda, the country’s foreign minister said on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference in London, Riyadh Yassin said Saleh had for years capitalized on the threat of Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in order to stay in power, and “benefited from them by taking advantage of other countries such as the United States and others who were concerned about the threat” posed by the group.

“All of these [extremist] groups [in Yemen] received support from Saleh, and we have amassed evidence [proving this] which we will present to the United Nations,” he added.

Yassin said the government remained “extremely worried about [AQAP] capitalizing on the current state of chaos in Yemen” but dismissed claims by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi movement that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had entered the country, claiming this was a ploy by the Houthis to attempt to spread their militias throughout Yemen.

“Of course, they [the Houthis] will always claim they are fighting ISIS, but this is not true,” he said.

The Houthi movement launched a coup in Yemen in February, forming a committee to choose a new cabinet and an interim presidential council to govern the country’s affairs in the absence of President Hadi, who at the time was under Houthi-imposed house arrest in the capital Sana’a.

Recent events suggest however that cracks are appearing in the relationship between Saleh and the Houthis. The former president called on the movement last week to withdraw from all areas of Yemen it has occupied and return to the negotiating table, in line with the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

Commenting on Saleh’s relationship with the Shi’ite group, Yassin said: “There is a clear rift between the Houthis and Saleh . . . He put them in this [position] and has tried to escape the country via any means.”

Yemeni sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday Saleh attempted to leave the country in a military aircraft just days ago, but was stopped due to the blockade of Yemeni airspace enforced by the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition.

IRGC Top Commander Wants Iran's Tougher Stance on Saudi Arabia.

IRGC Top Commander Wants Iran's Tougher Stance on Saudi Arabia. (Fars).

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari called on Iranian officials to stop being conservative in their stances and remarks on Saudi Arabia and show tougher stance on the country for its growingly hostile approach towards Iran.

"Today, the traitor Saudi Arabia has exactly followed in the footsteps of Israel and the Zionists. At present, the opponents of the Islamic Revolution came to be better known every day and they can no more hide themselves behind the mask of hypocrisy," Jafari said, addressing a science festival in Tehran on Monday.

"Today, Saudi Arabia is indecently and shamelessly bombing and massacring a nation that is seeking to deny a hegemonic system," he added.

He said Islamic Republic officials showed a conservative attitude towards Saudi Arabia due to certain considerations in the past, "but now that these attacks have been waged, these considerations and reservations should be ruptured."

"Today the Al-Saud is exposed to collapse and demise," the IRGC top commander underscored.

Saudi Arabia has been pounding Yemen for 33 consecutive days now.

On Tuesday and after four weeks of bombings, Riyadh declared end to military operations in Yemen, but Saudi warplanes are still bombing residential areas across the war-ravaged nation one week after.

Did Israel just demonstrate it's new Bunker Buster capacities, on the Iranian Missile Base in Yemen?

Did Israel just demonstrate it's new Bunker Buster capacities, on the Iranian Missile Base in Yemen? (JewsNews).

Editor’s Note…

One of the internet’s best independent analysts, Thomas Wictor, who specializes in Open Source Battle damage assessment, believes this may be the case: The Israelis and\or their Saudi allies have managed to come up with a roughly comparable substitute to the American MOAB Bunker Buster and have managed to convert a Boeing 707 tanker to a weaponized platform to carry such bombs. 

The beta test was carried out on the Iranian missile base in Yemen during the recent Saudi operation Decisive storm against the Iranian proxies (Houthis) and their IRGC handlers. If he is correct, the Israeli-Sunni coalition now has a feasible military option against the Iranian nuclear facilities. *** Someone sends a message to Iran.

What you need to understand: That is a primary explosion. It came from one bomb. In both videos, you hear only one initial explosion. The second video contains echoes of the primary, and then you hear what I’m sure are antiaircraft cannons firing.

Also, the bomb blew up an underground facility. It penetrated however deeply and produced an explosion comparable to that of a tactical nuclear weapon. Until now, the world thought that only the US had the capability of destroying the Iranian underground nuclear installations. We’ve built twenty GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker busters. They have a 5300-lb (2404-kg) warhead.

All the experts said that the Israelis couldn’t bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities because they don’t have bunker busters that can penetrate deeply enough. They also don’t have strategic bombers, like the B-2 Spirit, the aircraft which would drop the MOP.

The official told Reuters that Yemeni authorities had received information that Iranian experts had brought in parts for the missiles at the base, located south of Sanaa.

Iran denies allegations made by some Yemeni and Western officials that it provides money and training to the Shi’ite Muslim Houthis, whose rapid territorial advances triggered an Arab military campaign against them. (Reuters)

Iranian experts were working on long-range missiles pointed toward neighboring countries. That means they were modern Iranian missiles. You don’t need to call in the Iranians to work on the old Soviet SCUD.

The Saudi-led coalition bombed the base twice, but that didn’t seem to make much of an impression on the Houthis and Iranians. So then this happened. Hmmmm........'Vorsprung Durch Technik'. Read the full story here.

What kind of bomb opens a mountain? Not a #Saudi made one :) #Yemen pic.twitter.com/GvyIc1RZDB

— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) May 11, 2015

Iran rejects US claim, says 34th fleet still present in Gulf of Aden.

Iran rejects US claim, says 34th fleet still present in Gulf of Aden. (Taz).

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that the Islamic Republic’s 34th fleet is still in the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb.

He rejected comments of US defense officials on April 24, claiming that the fleet was moving away from Yemen, days after the US deployed warships to the Yemeni coast, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported on April 25.

According to the US officials, the Iranian ships turned away from Yemen on April 23 and continued to move northeast on April 24, back in the direction of Iran.

Sayyari stated that the fleet’s mission is to secure Iran's shipping lines and safeguard the Islamic Republic’s interests in the free waters.

Saudi Arabia and several Arab allies have imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen as part of a one-month campaign to oust the Houthis, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.


Iran has condemned the campaign and called for dialogue. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of providing military support to the Houthis, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.

Yemen rejects Iran mediation, insists rebels surrender.

Yemen rejects Iran mediation, insists rebels surrender. (AA).

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin on Monday rejected Iran's offer to mediate a solution to the crisis in his war-torn country, insisting that Tehran-backed rebels surrender.

"Any mediation effort coming from Iran is unacceptable because Iran is involved in the Yemen issue," Yassin said on the sidelines of an Arab-Turkish economic meeting in Kuwait City.

"Iran has become a major part of the Yemeni crisis and those who are a party to the crisis... cannot become mediators," he said.

Iran has been backing the Shia Houthi rebels who along with forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have taken control of most of Yemen, prompting air strikes from a Saudi-led coalition to support the government.

Yassin said thousands of anti-government fighters had been killed since the start of the air strikes on March 26.

The Saudi-led air campaign was launched following a plea from President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after rebels closed in on his refuge in the southern city of Aden. He has since fled to Riyadh.

The minister said Yemen's exiled government will not accept negotiations unless the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces lay down arms.

"The Houthis and Saleh forces must withdraw from all cities and villages of Yemen, including Sanaa and Aden, return to (their northern stronghold of) Saada as civilians, and lay down their arms," Yassin said.

"After that we can talk about dialogue and a political solution. But now there is no room for negotiations," he said.

Yassin said that Arab and other countries will take part in a meeting to study plans for the reconstruction of Yemen after the war.

"There is a project we are studying with Gulf countries, an 'Arab Marshall plan' for reconstruction in Yemen," he said, referring to the US programme that helped rebuild Europe after World War II.

Iranian Navy Commander: "No plan for docking Iranian warships in Yemen".

Iranian Navy Commander: "No plan for docking Iranian warships in Yemen". (Taz).

The Islamic Republic’s warships have no plan to dock in Yemen ports, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said.

He further said that the Islamic Republic Navy has a “powerful” presence in the Gulf of Aden, expressing hope that the gulf’s security will be safeguarded with help of entire countries in the region.

Iran has dispatched its 34th fleet to the Gulf of Aden in line with international efforts to combat piracy, Sayyari said, Iran’s Fars news agency reported April 18.

He also rejected reports that the Saudi Arabia has warned Iran’s fleet.

No warning was made against Iranian navy, he said, adding the Islamic Republic navy does not enter any country’s territorial waters without permission.

“We do not tolerate any threat or warning while our ships have the right for presence in the high seas under the international laws,” Sayyari underlined.

Deploying Iran's warships to the Gulf of Aden came while Saudi Arabia-led coalition has started strikes over Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels' positions in Yemen.

Earlier in March sources claimed that Egyptian warships had warned off Iran's 33th fleet out of the Gulf of Aden. That day Sayyari rejected the reports. The 33th fleet arrived home early in April after 77 days on the sea.


The Gulf of Aden has been growing in sensitivity since Yemen engaged in domestic crisis. Western media and Arab states claim Iran has a hand in the developments, but Tehran denies that. Hmmmm.......the Islamic Republic navy does not enter any country’s territorial waters without permission.

Iranian naval convoy moves toward Yemen, 'alarming' mil command.

Iranian naval convoy moves toward Yemen, 'alarming' mil command.(TheHill).

U.S. military officials are concerned that Iran's support for Houthi rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge the region into sectarian war.

Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons — toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials.

Officials fear the move could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis.

Iran sent a destroyer and another vessel to waters near Yemen last week but said it was part of a routine counter-piracy mission.

What's unusual about the new deployment, which set out this week, is that the Iranians are not trying to conceal it, officials said. Instead, they appear to be trying to "communicate it" to the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf. Hmmmm.......they know they have nothing to worry about the 'red lines' of Obama.

Video - Sunni Syrian Scholar Zein Al-Abideen Threatens Iran: You Are Nothing but a Tiny Island in a Vast Sea

Syrian Islamic scholar in exile Muhammad Surour Zein Al-Abideen welcomed the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen. Addressing the Iranians, whom he called "neo-caesars" whose barbarity "is unparalleled in history," Zein Al-Abideen said: "We have run out of patience. Know your true size. You are nothing but a tiny island in a vast sea. Beware its pounding waves, now that the Decisive Storm has blown." His address was posted on the Internet on March 9.

Iranian Minister of Culture suspends Umrah after teen abuse in Jeddah.

Iranian Minister of Culture suspends Umrah after teen abuse in Jeddah. (Taz).

Iranian Minister of Culture Ali Jannati has announced that Umrah pilgrimage for Iranians is suspended.

The move follows misconduct by Saudi security guards at Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport sexually harassing two teenage boys on pilgrimage from Iran.

Jannati said that the Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization is ordered to suspend Umrah for Iranians until Saudi government punishes the two security guards, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported April 13.

The incident has marred the national dignity of Iranians and there’s a public demand in Iran for action, he stated.

He pointed to previous examples when Iranian’s in Saudi Arabia had been mistreated in other ways and noted that Iranian clerics have also expressed concern over the issue.

About two weeks ago two Iranian teenagers were reportedly sexually abused after they were separated from their families at the Jeddah airport and taken into an office for, as the guards claimed, investigation.

Iran has demanded swift action over the issue.


Saudi Arabian officials have said that the two border guards responsible for the incident are under arrest and awaiting punishment, which may even be death sentences. Hmmm.....Not good at all.