A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, September 4, 2015

UAE Mourns 45 Troops Killed in Yemen

The Saudi and GCC campaign in Yemen, which increasingly involves ground troops fom the Gulf countries, gets little attention in the West. But the death of 45 Emirati troops in a single operation, from a missile strike by Houthi forces, has shocked the Emirates, which has little previous combat experience. Three days of mourning have been declared.

Previous Emirati and Saudi casualties in Yemen have been a few at a time, easily shrugged off Such a large death toll in one day is a reminder to the UAE and the rest of the world that the Yemen operations are ongoing.

The troops, from the 107th Brigade, died when a Houthi missile struck an ammunition depot in the Marib area.

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