Member of the Houthi political office in Yemen Mohammed Nasser Bukhaiti said his movement has captured and killed 40 Egyptian soldiers in Abyan coast, south Yemen.
Bukhaiti, in an exclusive statement to Iran’s Fars news agency, said that the soldiers arrived on the country’s coasts “in an area between Shaqra and Aden on four boats”.
The Egyptian authorities have not responded to the statement.
A Saudi-led coalition including Egypt has been targeting the Houthis with airstrikes. The campaign, dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, threatens to spark a regional confrontation between Iran, which is backing the Houthis, and its Arab rivals.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hussein Amir Abdul Allahaan said his country expects Egypt to provide more help to find a political solution to the conflict in Yemen, and to prevent the massacres, stressing that it is unacceptable that Egypt puts itself against the Yemeni people.
“Some countries are showing wise behaviour in the region. However, we expect from Egypt as an Islamic and Arab country to do more effort to accelerate the search for a political solution in Yemen,” he said.
Fars quoted Allahaan as saying that Iran and Egypt bear a significant role in the maintaining of regional stability and security.
“There is no doubt that the Egyptian leaders see great importance in the future of their Arab relations,” he said, adding that Iran supports Egypt’s close ties with Yemen.