UAE Completes Withdrawal of Troops from Yemen’s Mahrah Province

Informed sources, requesting anonymity, told Arabic-language Yemen Shabab television network on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates withdrew its forces the previous day, and handed over buildings used by its troops to local authorities.

The sources added that mercenaries and military advisers from African countries would most likely replace Emirati soldiers.

The UAE is Saudi Arabia’s key ally in its deadly war against Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 17,500 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Reports by independent world bodies have warned that the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, as Saudi Arabia's deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fuelled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods.

The blockade on Yemen has smothered humanitarian deliveries of food and medicine to the import-dependent state.

The UN has recently called the humanitarian situation in Yemen "bleak" and stressed that they are losing the battle against famine in the country.

Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA) said millions of people across the country are at risk of dying due to food scarcity and that the situation has deteriorated in an "alarming" fashion.

"We are already seeing pockets of famine-like conditions --- including cases where people are eating leaves because they have no other form of sustenance," he added.

He stressed that 75 percent of Yemen's population of around 22 million are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

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