Local Editor

A Qatari official confirmed on Tuesday that the tiny Gulf state had dispatched 1,000 troops for Yemen, as the number of troops deployed part of the Saudi-led coalition reached 10,000.
The Qatari forces have not yet entered the country but were positioned at Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia, the source told AFP.

Qatari troops

t was the first confirmation by an official in Doha of a report this week by Qatar's Al-Jazeera news channel that the country had sent troops to Yemen.

"We have sent troops who will be deployed along with Saudi troops," the official said.
"They are at the Saudi/Yemen border, they have not entered Yemen. They should be entering Yemen in the next few days."

The source added that the Qatari soldiers, armed with heavy ground weapons, were "ready to fight".

This is believed to be the first time Qatari ground troops have joined the coalition, but the country's air force has previously taken part in the air campaign which began in March this year.

Number of Coalition Troops Reaches 10,000

Meanwhile, al-Jazeera reported that the number of troops of the Saudi-led alliance reached 10,000.

"The number of coalition soldiers who have already entered Yemen has risen to 10,000," Jazeera correspondent Abdul Mahsi al-Sheikh reported from southern Saudi Arabia.

The deployment comes after the Saudi-led coalition was dealt a big blow on Friday when the Yemeni army and the popular committees launched a Toshka ballistic missile on a military gathering for the coalition in the eastern province of Marib.

The coalition states admitted that 60 soldiers were killed in the Toshka operation in Safer, including 45 Emiratis, 10 Saudis and 5 Bahrainis.

However, Yemeni military sources confirmed, based on special information, that the death toll from Safer coalition military camp in Ma'rib province reached 300 soldiers and officers of Saudi, Emirati, Bahraini and other nationalities, the Lebanese National News Agency reported Sunday.

Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition. Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.

However, Yemeni army, backed by popular committees and tribal fighter has been responding to the aggression by targeting several Saudi border military posts and cleansing several areas across the country, especially the country’s south, from Hadi and al-Qaeda-linked militias.