
APRIL 16, 2015 MADDCOLDSONOFKUFA

TEHRAN (FNA)- Dozens of Egyptian soldiers were captured and several more were killed in a joint operation of Yemen’s army and popular forces on the Southern coasts of the war-ravaged country, a senior Ansarullah movement member announced on Wednesday.

Mohammad Nasser Al-Bokhayti, a senior politburo member of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement, said in an exclusive interview with the Arabic website of Fars News Agency that “40 Egyptian soldiers raided the Southern coasts of Yemen on Monday and they were all taken captive or killed by the army and popular forces”.

Al-Bokhayti also said that the Egyptian forces were heliborne to Yemen’s offshore waters, adding that the 40 arrived the country’s coasts “in an area between Shaqra and Aden on 4 boats”.

Informed military sources disclosed that at least 35,000 forces will make up the Saudi-led Arab ground force against Yemen.

“The coalition military force that is set to be formed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt and some other countries will comprise an air force with something between 500 to 1,000 personnel, 3,000 to 5,000 naval troops and a 35,000-strong ground force,” informed Egyptian sources revealed on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia will reportedly take charge of commanding the ground force of the joint Arab army. The joint Arab army will be divided into three sections of special operations units, striking units, as well as relief and rescue forces.

The military sources also disclosed that a majority of the coalition ground force will be formed of Egyptian, Moroccon, Jordanian and Sudanese soldiers, meaning that the four nations will sustain the highest number of death toll compared with other nations present in the 10 member coalition.

Yet, Arab military analysts believe that rifts among the coalition members’ stances on the crisis have reduced the chances of battlefield success for their troops to meaningful levels.

Saudi Arabia started its unauthorized aerial bombardments on Yemen on March 26. The Saudi-led attacks have drawn international criticism after claiming the lives of at least 2515 people, mostly women and children, and razing thousands of housing units to the ground.

Also, thousands of people have been injured during the attacks as the Saudi offensive enters its 20th consecutive day.

Some western countries, including the US, have backed the Saudi aggression despite international calls for a swift halt to the attacks.

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