Pentagon says the deployment aims at assisting Arab coalition fight al-Qaeda in Yemen.
The Pentagon has acknowledged for the first time it has deployed its troops to Yemen more than a year after pulling out following military intervention by the Arab-led coalition.
The security void created in the wake of the more than a year of war between Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebels has been exploited by the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Davis said on Friday the US military had also stepped up air strikes against AQAP fighters in the war-torn country.
A “very small number” of American military personnel has been working from a “fixed location” the Arab coalition forces – especially the Emiratis – in recent weeks around Mukalla, a port city seized by AQAP a year ago, Davis said.
The U.S.S. Boxer Amphibious Readiness Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit have also been sent to the waters off the coast of Yemen to help provide medical help and maritime security.
The Saudi-led coalition of nine Sunni states began its attacks on Houthi-controlled areas of neighbouring Yemen in March last year. The airstrike campaign and naval blockade has so far claimed the lives of over 7,000 civilians.
Bombing raids on schools, medical facilities, mosques and markets, according to the UN, have violated international humanitarian laws, with regions of Yemen facing acute levels of famine.
Saudi Arabia
The regime in Saudi Arabia has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations.
Saudi Arabia has been compared to DAESH in long time now, especially for their support of terrorist organizations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Hashtags #SueMeSaudi and #SaudiArabiaIsISIS has many hits every minute, and many want to mark their opposition and to show their distance to the brutal dictator regime in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia practice Wahhabism ideology, a strictly fundamentalist orientation within Sunni Islam, which in practice is the state religion in the country. It is also ideology direction that has inspired al-Qaida and DAESH.
