Qatari troops arrived in the province of Hadramout, Yemen, to strengthen the Arab coalition forces fighting the Houthis, a source told Arabi21.
Qatari satellite channel Al Jazeera said the force is composed of 1,000 soldiers from the Armed Forces, more than 200 armoured vehicles and 30 Apache combat helicopters, reinforced with heavy and medium equipment as well as defence missiles. The force will be joined by another Qatari unit that outnumbers the first one in both the amount of soldiers and equipment with an advanced communication system, as confirmed by a Riyadh-based source.
Activists on the social networking websites shared photographs of troops and armoured vehicles which, they said, were heading south on their way to the city of Al-Kharj, eastern Saudi Arabia.
The move comes in response to the bombing in the province of Maareb, which killed and wounded dozens of soldiers from the Saudi-led coalition.
A spokesman for the coalition forces, Ahmed Asiri, said: “An armoury in Maareb was attacked by a land drone, causing a fire which resulted in the death of 10 Saudi, 45 Emirati and five Bahraini soldiers, and injured others who were taken to the Saudi Kingdom for treatment, and a large number of them have reportedly left.”
He pointed out that investigations are still underway to determine the causes of the high loss of life.
Asiri confirmed that military operations will continue until they achieve their objectives for this phase, stressing that the coalition aims to achieve security and stability for Yemen, pointing out that this attack will not deter the coalition from its mission.