UAE soldier killed in Yemen fighting

The impoverished Arab state is divided among pro-government troops supported by Saudi Arabia, Houthi rebels, and al Qaeda militants.

On Sunday, Human Rights Watch accused the Saudi-led coalition of using US-supplied cluster bombs in Yemen, causing civilian casualties.

Thousands of soldiers from 20 countries started arriving in the Saudi city of Hafr Al-Batin in the past several days ahead of what organizers said are the largest military exercises in the region, labeled “Northern Thunder”.

“I wish to confirm that Malaysian armed forces are not involved in any military campaign led by Saudi Arabia against the conflict in Yemen as highlighted in the social media”.

A medical official said that two employees of the sewing workshop and other nine labourers working at the electronics warehouse store were killed in the airstrike, while four others wounded.

A search was underway for another employee still buried under the rubble of the building in the east of Sanaa, he added.

The Coalition forces fighting in Yemen in the past have seized a number of boats and ships as they attempted to smuggle weapons to Iranian-backed Houthi militias and the ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The war, which began in March 2015, has so far killed almost 8,300 people, including 2,236 children, and injured over 16,000 others.

“Coalition members should be under no illusion that this warning absolves them of their obligation to distinguish between civilian and military objects, and to protect humanitarian personnel and facilities from attack”, he said.

The Saudis responded the following day saying the coalition’s request “is consistent with its obligations under global humanitarian law and, in no way, can be misinterpreted to indicate any hindrance to humanitarian access and the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Yemen”.

Separately, the United Arab Emirates said that one of its soldiers was killed and another was wounded while participating in coalition operations in Yemen.

Hishammuddin also explained that the joint exercise would give the ATM the much-needed opportunity to understand High Availability Disaster Recovery procedures as well as methods to extract Malaysians from conflict zones.