UAE draws down troops in Yemen in 'strategic redeployment'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has drawn down its troop levels in Yemen but remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Iran-aligned rebels there.

A senior Emirati official confirmed Monday that UAE troop levels are down, describing it as a "strategic redeployment." The official declined to disclose how many troops have left Yemen and how many remain.

In discussing the drawdown of troops in Yemen, the Emirati official also noted the "overall geostrategic picture" in reference to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf region. The UAE, which supports U.S. sanctions on Iran, has also called for a de-escalation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop deployments for security reasons. </s> Abu Dhabi (CNN) The United Arab Emirates has reduced its forces in Yemen as part of a "strategic" redeployment, a senior Emirati official said Monday.

The UAE is a major coalition partner in the Saudi-led military campaign to quash Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It has intervened in the country's war since March 2015.

Emirati and Saudi forces have sought to prop up the United Nations-recognized government of Abdu Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi after Houthi fighters took over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014.

Last month, Reuters reported the UAE had ordered the partial withdrawal of troops from the war-torn country because of domestic security concerns . Abu Dhabi preferred to have forces and equipment close by in case of a further escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran, the Reuters report said, citing three unnamed diplomats.

Since May, six oil tankers have been attacked in the Gulf and Tehran has downed an unmanned US drone

But Emirati officials said they reduced their troops in Yemen due to a winding down of the conflict there. "You can't be blind to other geostrategic concerns," the senior official told CNN, referring to the wider security threats in the region. "But fundamentally this is really about Yemen."

The official said the draw-down would affect two main areas: the coastal Yemeni city of Hodeidah , where a withdrawal of Houthi forces has been negotiated, and the Eritrean port city of Assab, a staging ground for UAE operations against Houthis in Yemen.

"We feel in Hodeidah there is a political agreement that we are backing, and it makes a lot of sense for us to redeploy away from Hodeidah," the official said. The withdrawal of Houthi fighters from the strategic city was part of an agreement reached between Yemen's warring parties in Stockholm last December.

The UAE says it plans to shift its focus from fighting Houthi rebels to combating extremist Islamist groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

"Our commitment in Yemen remains. We are part of the Coalition," the official said.

"Our discussion over our current redeployment has been ongoing for over a year. It has been heightened after the signing of the Stockholm agreement in December," he added. "So this is not really a last-minute decision. But part of a process. It's a process within the coalition that has been discussed extensively with our partners," the official said. </s> Yemeni rebels on Tuesday called for the full withdrawal of the Arab coalition from the country. The statement came after the UAE, a key part of that coalition, said it had begun reducing its deployment.

“We call on the aggressors to withdraw from Yemen, as the Republic of Yemen rejects aggression, siege and air embargo,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the rebels’ Higher Revolutionary Committee, tweeted. “Withdrawing from Yemen is the ideal decision that must be taken at this time.”

An official from the UAE has reiterated its commitment to the Yemeni government and the Arab coalition, saying Abu Dhabi discussed redeployment with its Saudi partner “extensively,” AFP reported. </s> The United Arab Emirates has announced a “strategic redeployment” from the port city of Hodeidah in Yemen, as well as a more limited tactical retreat elsewhere in the country – marking a significant moment in Yemen’s four-year civil war.

UAE officials said the move, under discussion for as long as a year, was designed to support a United Nations-led peace process that began in Stockholm last December. It was the first official UAE confirmation of a withdrawal, which has been reported in recent weeks by witnesses and foreign officials.

The officials said the UAE would remain in the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in 2015 to try to restore the Yemeni government ousted from power by the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran.

Oversight would be passed to Emirati-trained local Yemeni forces and foreign mercenaries, and UAE forces remaining in Yemen would focus on counter-terrorism efforts against al-Qaida and Islamic State rather than the battle against the Houthis. The UAE would also continue to support a secessionist movement in southern Yemen.

Analysts have warned it is not yet clear whether local troops and Saudi coalition partners are up to the task of filling the vacuum, sparking fears that the current stalemate in much of the country could be upended.

The UAE drawdown also weakens Saudi Arabia’s military capabilities in Yemen, adding to pressure for Riyadh to proactively pursue a political rather than military solution to the war.

The withdrawal had been extensively discussed with Riyadh as well as the UN-recognised Yemen government based in Aden, the officials added.

The UAE may be braced for accusations that the withdrawal is an admission of defeat, but the officials insisted the redeployment was a considered move reflecting the diplomatic progress being made by the UN in the strategically important Hodeidah.

Hodeidah became a major focus of the war last year when the western-backed Saudi-led coalition tried to seize the port, which is the Houthis’ main supply line.

In December the UN brokered a complex ceasefire in the city in which both the Yemeni government and Houthi forces were supposed to withdraw, leaving a new security force to take over the port and the city.

Only parts of that withdrawal agreement have been implemented. The UAE said it was keen to see the peace process expanded towards a wider peace settlement with deadlines covering the whole country.

The officials denied that the move would create a dangerous vacuum around Hodeidah, arguing that there were as many as 19,000 Yemeni troops in theport city area if progress towards a settlement collapsed.

In 2018, by contrast, the UAE had argued that the military capture of Hodeidah would force the Houthis to the negotiating table.

The international community pressed the UAE and the Saudis to wait outside the city, warning that an assault could lead to a bloodbath and disruption at the port could tip the country into full-blown famine.

Emirati officials have also dismissed suggestions that the drawdown reflects a growing rift between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh: their military and political leaders have long differed on preferred strategy in both the bloody impasse in Yemen and dealing with the threat posed to Gulf interests from Tehran.

UAE officials refused to go into details of precise troop movements and said some of the withdrawals were tactical, and so could be reversed. Witnesses have said a large-scale drawdown of troops and heavy weaponry is under way in Marib province and the interim capital of Aden as well as Hodeidah.

Last week, Reuters reported it had been told by three diplomats that Abu Dhabi preferred to have its forces and equipment on hand should tension between the US and Iran escalate further after attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and Tehran’s suspected downing of a US drone. Those tanker attacks have been ascribed to Iranian surrogates, but no final attribution has been made by the UAE. On Monday the UAE officials said the timing was not linked to those developments. </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has drawn down its troop levels in Yemen but remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Iran-aligned rebels there, a senior Emirati official said Monday.

The official confirmed that UAE troop levels are down, describing it as a “strategic redeployment.” The official declined to disclose how many soldiers have left Yemen and how many remain.

“Definitely, we do have troop levels that are down for reasons that are strategic in Hodeida and reasons that are tactical,” the official said, referring to the Yemeni port city where a U.N.-brokered cease-fire is supposed to be in place.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop deployments for security reasons.

Talking to journalists in Dubai, the official said it makes sense to redeploy away from Hodeida and by extension from the UAE’s military base at Eritrea’s post of Assab, which was a staging ground for Emirati operations in Hodeida.

Any other redeployment in others parts of Yemen “will ebb and flow based our own assessment of what the situation involves,” the official said.

“Our commitment in Yemen remains. We are part of the coalition,” the official said, adding that the drawdown was discussed extensively with the Saudis.

The Saudi-led coalition has been at war in Yemen since 2015 to support the country’s internationally-backed government. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and the war has generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, drawing sharp bipartisan criticism in Congress.

When discussing the drawdown, the Emirati official also noted the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf region, saying the UAE was not blind to “the overall geostrategic picture.”

A number of American academics and analysts who met recently with Emirati military officials say that in addition to withdrawing a significant number of troops from Yemen, the Emiratis have also moved Patriot batteries and other defense systems from Yemen back to the UAE to boost security and readiness at home amid heightened tensions with Iran.

Yemeni military officials and tribal leaders, who also insisted on speaking anonymously to discuss the situation, said the UAE redeployed forces from the eastern province of Marib. Meanwhile, they said Emirati military reinforcements were sent to the southern provinces of Dhale and Shabwa. They said the UAE had also redeployed its forces and weapons to the Red Sea port town of Mocha.

The Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen, known as Houthis, said in May they would begin to redeploy from three key ports in Yemen, including Hodeida, which handles 70 percent of Yemen’s food imports and humanitarian aid. The long-delayed redeployment of Houthi forces there is seen as a key first step toward ending the civil war, which erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.

Meanwhile, security concerns spiked in the UAE after four oil tankers were hit off its coast of Fujairah in May in an attack that the U.S. has blamed on Iran.

“We’re very, very protected when it comes to drones … Patriots, Thaad system. But you know again, I think mostly, we are also protected through what I would say is continuous diplomacy,” the Emirati official said before adding “our whole effort has been at de-escalation.”

The UAE supports U.S. sanctions on Iran, but has also stressed that war with Iran is not in the region’s interest.

Two other tankers were attacked in June in the Gulf of Oman, forcing crews on both ships to be rescued and evacuate. Iran denies any involvement.

Tensions rose further after Iran shot down an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone.

Over the same period, Houthis have upped their attacks on Saudi Arabia, using bomb-laden drones and missiles to target a Saudi airport, killing a civilian and wounding dozens others. The Houthis also claimed an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.

Associated Press writer Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The United Arab Emirates has drawn down its troop levels in Yemen but remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Iran-aligned rebels there, a senior Emirati official said Monday.

The official confirmed that UAE troop levels are down, describing it as a "strategic redeployment." The official declined to disclose how many soldiers have left Yemen and how many remain.

"Definitely, we do have troop levels that are down for reasons that are strategic in Hodeida and reasons that are tactical," the official said, referring to the Yemeni port city where a U.N.-brokered cease-fire is supposed to be in place.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop deployments for security reasons.

Talking to journalists in Dubai, the official said it makes sense to redeploy away from Hodeida and by extension from the UAE's military base at Eritrea's post of Assab, which was a staging ground for Emirati operations in Hodeida.

Any other redeployment in others parts of Yemen "will ebb and flow based our own assessment of what the situation involves," the official said.

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2015, file photo, Emirati soldiers stand guard out the rear gate of a Chinook military helicopter traveling from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. The United Arab Emirates has drawn down the number of its troops in Yemen, but has not withdrawn from the country and remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war there, a senior Emirati official confirmed Monday, July 8,2 019. The official declined to give figures on how many troops have been withdrawn or how many remain in Yemen, but said the UAE remains committed to the Saudi-led coalition there. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck, File)

"Our commitment in Yemen remains. We are part of the coalition," the official said, adding that the drawdown was discussed extensively with the Saudis.

Yemeni military officials and tribal leaders, who also insisted on speaking anonymously to discuss the situation, said the UAE redeployed forces from the eastern province of Marib. Meanwhile, they said Emirati military reinforcements were sent to the southern provinces of Dhale and Shabwa. They said the UAE had also redeployed its forces and weapons to the Red Sea port town of Mocha.

The Houthis said in May they would begin to redeploy from three key ports in Yemen, including in Hodeida, which handles 70 percent of Yemen's food imports and humanitarian aid. The long-delayed redeployment of Houthi forces there is seen as a key first step toward ending the civil war, which erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition has been at war in Yemen since 2015 to support the country's internationally-backed government. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and the war has generated the world's worst humanitarian crisis, drawing sharp bipartisan criticism in Congress.

In discussing the drawdown of troops in Yemen, the Emirati official also noted the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf region, saying the UAE was not blind to "the overall geostrategic picture."

Concerns spiked in the UAE after four oil tankers were hit off its coast of Fujairah in May in an attack that the U.S. has blamed on Iran.

A number of American academics and analysts who met recently with Emirati military officials say that in addition to withdrawing a significant number of troops from Yemen, the Emiratis have also moved Patriot batteries and other defense systems from Yemen back to the UAE to boost security and readiness at home amid heightened tensions with Iran.

"We're very, very protected when it comes to drones ... Patriots, Thaad system. But you know again, I think mostly, we are also protected through what I would say is continuous diplomacy," the Emirati official said before adding "our whole effort has been at de-escalation."

The UAE supports U.S. sanctions on Iran, but has also stressed that war with Iran is not in the region's interest.

In addition to the four oil tankers hit in May, two other tankers were attacked in June in the Gulf of Oman, forcing crews on both ships to be rescued and evacuate. Iran denies any involvement.

Over the same period, Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen, known as Houthis, upped their attacks on Saudi Arabia, using bomb-laden drones and missiles to target a Saudi airport, killing a civilian and wounding dozens others. The Houthis also claimed an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline. </s> FILE – In this Sept. 14, 2015, file photo, Emirati soldiers stand guard out the rear gate of a Chinook military helicopter traveling from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. The United Arab Emirates has drawn down the number of its troops in Yemen, but has not withdrawn from the country and remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war there, a senior Emirati official confirmed Monday, July 8,2 019. The official declined to give figures on how many troops have been withdrawn or how many remain in Yemen, but said the UAE remains committed to the Saudi-led coalition there. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has drawn down its troop levels in Yemen but remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Iran-aligned rebels there.

A senior Emirati official confirmed Monday that UAE troop levels are down, describing it as a “strategic redeployment.” The official declined to disclose how many troops have left Yemen and how many remain.

In discussing the drawdown of troops in Yemen, the Emirati official also noted the “overall geostrategic picture” in reference to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf region. The UAE, which supports U.S. sanctions on Iran, has also called for a de-escalation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop deployments for security reasons. </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - The first day of a withdrawal of forces by Yemen’s Houthi movement from three of Yemen’s Red Sea ports went “in accordance with established plans”, the head of a U.N. mission to monitor the deal said on Sunday.

“All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security,” Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the U.N.’s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), said in a statement. </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The United Arab Emirates has drawn down its troop levels in Yemen but remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Iran-aligned rebels there.

A senior Emirati official confirmed Monday that UAE troop levels are down, describing it as a "strategic redeployment." The official declined to disclose how many troops have left Yemen and how many remain.

In discussing the drawdown of troops in Yemen, the Emirati official also noted the "overall geostrategic picture" in reference to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf region. The UAE, which supports U.S. sanctions on Iran, has also called for a de-escalation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop deployments for security reasons.

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2015, file photo, Emirati soldiers stand guard out the rear gate of a Chinook military helicopter traveling from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. The United Arab Emirates has drawn down the number of its troops in Yemen, but has not withdrawn from the country and remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war there, a senior Emirati official confirmed Monday, July 8,2 019. The official declined to give figures on how many troops have been withdrawn or how many remain in Yemen, but said the UAE remains committed to the Saudi-led coalition there. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2015, file photo, Yemeni Gen. Abd al-Rab Qassim al-Shadadi speaks to his troops at a United Arab Emirates military base near Saffer, Yemen. The United Arab Emirates has drawn down the number of its troops in Yemen, but has not withdrawn from the country and remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war there, a senior Emirati official confirmed Monday, July 8, 2019. The official declined to give figures on how many troops have been withdrawn or how many remain in Yemen, but said the UAE remains committed to the Saudi-led coalition there. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck, File)
The United Arab Emirates announces a partial withdrawal of its forces from Yemen as part of a "strategic redeployment".