RIYADH (Sputnik) – Yemen has received an affirmative response for a request to send ground troops to the country in support of the Decisive Storm operation against Houthi rebels, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen said.
On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemeni capital Sanaa at the request of the country's ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. On Thursday, a Saudi Arabia military spokesman said coalition forces were ready to launch a ground operation, if Yemen needed it.
“We request ground support as soon as possible. We have received an affirmative response to our request on ground support,” Al-Hadath news channel quoted him as saying in the Saudi Arabian capital.
Numerous people, including civilians, were killed and wounded in coalition attacks.
On Monday, a source in Yemen's Health Ministry told Sputnik that 37 people had been killed and 150 injured after five days of airstrikes on Yemeni targets by the international coalition. Earlier on Tuesday, a security source told Sputnik that 11 had been killed and 30 injured in a Saudi-led bombing south of Yemen's capital Sanaa, while at least 17 died in airstrikes on Hadi's residence in Aden.