Emirati troops push toward rebel-held Yemeni capital

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SAFFER, Yemen -- As fighting rages in Yemen, troops from the United Arab Emirates that are part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels are pushing toward the country's rebel-held capital, Sanaa, after securing a strategic provincial city, the commander of an Emirati contingent said Monday.

They hope their campaign will push the rebels out and help restore Yemen's legitimate government.

Emirati Brig. Gen. Ali Saif al-Kaabi told reporters during a visit to an Emirati base inside Yemen the coalition forces were not "coming to occupy Yemen."

The Emiratis are part of thousands of Saudi and UAE forces fighting on the ground in Yemen to reverse the territorial gains by the Iran-backed rebels known as Houthis, who captured Sanaa last year and much of the country's north.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis in March.

The presence of troops from the oil-rich Gulf states could be a game-changer in the bitter war that pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against an array of forces, including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Pro-government forces recently pushed the Houthis out of several key southern areas in Yemen.

The conflict has killed more than 4,000 people, leaving the Arab world's poorest country in the grip of a humanitarian crisis and on the brink of famine.

On Monday, al-Kaabi told media crews during an exclusive visit to UAE troops fighting on the ground in Yemen the Saudi-led coalition has secured the city of Marib, the capital of Marib province.

Marib and the southern port city of Aden, from which the rebels were expelled earlier this summer, are the staging ground for the coalition's two-pronged push for Sanaa, added al-Kaabi, who is leading the UAE forces in Marib province.

But while in control of Marib city, about 125 miles west of Sanaa, the Emirati troops face a difficult terrain of towering mountains between them and the Yemeni capital, said the Emirati commander.

Al-Kaabi compared the area to the terrain in some parts of Afghanistan, where Emirati forces contributed to the U.S.-led coalition.

The mountainous region, he said, also has been peppered with land mines planted by the Houthis and Saleh's loyalists.

An Emirati soldier was killed by one such land mine Monday -- the second to die in as many days, bringing the death toll for Emirati forces in Yemen to 54 since Sept. 5, when a missile hit their sprawling Forward Operating Base Saffer.

At least 10 soldiers from Saudi Arabia and five from Bahrain also were killed in that attack.