SANAA: Yemen’s internationally recognised government accused the Emirati air force of attacking its troops on Thursday as they were heading to the key southern port city of Aden to fight separatists backed by the UAE. The air strikes killed at least 30 government forces, a Yemeni commander said.

The development raises concerns about the future of a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since 2015 and adds another complex layer to the civil war that has ravaged the Arab world’s most impoverished country.

Col Mohamed al-Oban, a commander of the government’s special forces in Abyan province, said the troops were on the road, headed from Abyan toward Aden on Thursday, when the strikes took place, killing at least 30. He didn’t say who was behind them, saying only the planes were from the Saudi-led coalition.

The UAE also maintains warplanes as part of the coalition. Officials in the UAE declined to immediately comment.

Yemen’s foreign ministry tweeted a statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadrami, saying: “The government condemns the Emirati airstrike on government forces. We hold the UAE fully responsible for this explicit extra-judicial targeting” of the government forces, the statement said, adding that the air strikes also left several civilians dead but without providing a specific death toll.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2019