Saudi Arabia to deploy ground troops in Yemen

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Abdulaziz on Tuesday ordered the deployment of an elite ground unit in the country’s ongoing campaign against Yemen’s Shiite Houthi militant group, Saudi’s official news agency has reported.

King Salman has issued a royal decree to deploy National Guard Forces in its ongoing military operation against Yemen’s Houthis – a campaign which, until Tuesday’s announcement, had been reportedly confined to air and naval bombardments.

Riyadh refrained, however, from providing additional details on the planned deployment.

Since March 25, Houthi positions across Yemen have been the target of frequent attacks by warplanes from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf-Arab allies.

Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.

Riyadh says its campaign is in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi – who is currently in Saudi Arabia – to “save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias.”

The Houthis, for their part, have decried the offensive, describing it as unwarranted “Saudi-American aggression.”

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen’s Houthi insurgency.