REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia on Sunday denied media reports that troops were deployed to Yemen's Aden to start a ground operation there.
"There are no foreign forces in Aden, but the coalition continues to help fight against the Houthi militia," spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition Ahmed al-Asiri said in a statement.
It was earlier reported that the first Saudi-led coalition ground troops entered Aden and another force is on its way to the southern port city, a Yemeni government official said.
Meanwhile, Yemen's Aden al-Ghad newspaper reported that "the first push of the Arab ground force arrived on Sunday morning in Aden and began to take part in battle." The paper is linked to southern separatists demanding the restoration of the southern state that merged with North Yemen in 1990.
"The first Saudi-led coalition troops arrived in Aden and have engaged in the fighting alongside with tribal militia allied with Yemen's President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Aden's neighborhood of KhorMaksar," the senior government official based in Aden said on condition of anonymity.
"They are fighting with pro-Hadi militia against the Shiite Houthi gunmen near Aden's international airport at the moment," the government source said.
The number of that Saudi-led ground forces are about 40 to 50, a spokesman of the tribal militia told Xinhua. The soldiers were wearing Yemeni clothes, not army uniforms, witnesses said.
The Saudi-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against the Houthi rebels and their allies since March 26.
In the capital of Sanaa, overnight Saudi-led airstrikes hit al- Dailamy military airforce and former republican guards base, as well as Attan missile base.
The airstrikes destroyed the runway of Sanaa international airport last week, which halted the shipment of foreign aids to Yemen that has seen severe shortage of basic needs, including food, water, medicine and fuel, for about a month.
However, the airstrikes and battles in southern regions have left more than 1,000 people killed, 3,000 others wounded, and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.
On Sunday, fresh clashes between tribal fighters and the Houthi group left 12 Houthis dead in al-Zahir district of al-Bayda province.
Meanwhile, overnight Saudi-led airstrikes pounded Houthi gatherings in the central province of Marib, killing dozens, according to provincial security officials.
They said the Houthi group keep sending reinforcements to Marib and the southern province of Taiz, as well as Aden city.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika