Military forces of the United Arab Emirates have begun withdrawing from the conflict in Yemen, Emirati officials said, leaving Saudi Arabia to fight Houthi rebels.

For four years the UAE provided weapons, funding, training and at least 5,000 troops to a cause which props up Yemen's government but has killed thousands of civilians but resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis. In the past month, the Emerati deployment at rebel-held Hodeidah, Yemen's major port, has been reduced from 750 to 150, and helicopters and heavy artillery have been removed.

An unidentified Emerati official noted that the UAE, despite its departure from the battlefield, has trained 90,000 Yemeni soldiers to fill their absence.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE began an intervention in Yemen in 2015, with the support of the United States, to defeat an attempted takeover of the government by the Houthis, a rebel group with Iranian support, and to restore Yemen's recognized government. After four years, the Houthis have not been removed, the war has become a quagmire and the United Nations has called Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Since the start of the war, the number of UAE troops in Yemen has been low, and has consisted largely of officers, trainers and consultants, although 45 Yemeni troops died in a missile attack in 2015. Despite the alliance with Saudi Arabia against Iran-backed rebels, economic ties between Iran and the UAE have remained intact, with $20 billion in trade volume between the two countries. Additionally, over a half million Iranians live in the Emirates, which has a population of 9.6 million.

The removal of UAE in Yemen potentially leaves Saudi Arabia, and other, smaller forces in the anti-Houthi coalition, with bearing the consequences of the war, and if it ever comes, the peace.

Britain sends second warship to Gulf after Iran tanker standoff
London (AFP) July 13, 2019 - Britain said Friday it was sending a second warship to the Gulf and raising the alert level in the oil-rich region as tensions spike after Iranian gunboats threatened a UK supertanker.

The decision was disclosed as US President Donald Trump stepped up his war of words with the Islamic republic, which breached part of a nuclear accord already rejected by Washington.

"Iran better be careful," Trump told reporters outside the White House.

"They're treading on very dangerous territory. Iran, if you're listening, you better be careful."

British officials said the naval deployment was part of a pre-planned rotation and meant to ensure a continued British naval presence in one of the most important but volatile oil shipment routes in the world.

But a source said the switchover was brought forward by several days and should see two of Britain's most advanced warships jointly navigating the waters off Iran for a period that might last a number of weeks.

A government spokesman said the HMS Duncan was "deploying to the region to ensure we maintain a continuous maritime security presence while HMS Montrose comes off task for pre-planned maintenance and crew changeover".

On Wednesday, HMS Montrose warned off three fast Iranian gunboats that UK officials said were trying to "impede" the progress of a British supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

Iranian officials have denied the incident ever happened.

The British government decided at the start of the week to raise the alert level for ships travelling through Iranian waters to three on a three-point scale, indicating a "critical" threat.

HMS Duncan is an air defence destroyer that carries a set of heavy Harpoon anti-ship missiles and has a company and crew in excess of 280.

- Curbing Trump -

After weeks of escalating tensions, Trump last month authorised an air strike on Iran over its downing of a US spy drone but backed away at the last minute.

Alarmed that Trump's hawkish stance could lead to war, the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Friday voted to bar funding for military operations against Iran unless they are in self-defence or explicitly authorised by Congress.

"Frankly, what it will prevent is what this president promised to the American people not to do -- to get into another endless, costly war in the Middle East," said Representative Ro Khanna, the Democrat who led the measure.

But the Senate, controlled by Trump's Republican Party, defeated a similar proposal.

Khanna's amendment was part of a broader defence bill, meaning that the two chambers will need to negotiate on the language.

Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the amendment "reckless," saying that the military should not be held up by a potentially lengthy legislative process.

"This will tie our military's hands at a perilous time. We need Iran and its terrorist proxies to think twice before they attack Americans, our friends or our interests," he said.

- Gibraltar arrests -

The Strait of Hormuz episode occurred a week after UK Royal Marines helped the Gibraltar authorities detain an Iranian tanker that US officials believe was trying to deliver oil to Syria in violation of separate sets of EU and US sanctions.

Iran has bristled at the arrest and issued a series of increasingly ominous warnings to both the United States and Britain about its right to take unspecified actions in reprisal.

"If the enemy had made the smallest assessment they wouldn't have done this act," Iran's Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi said on Thursday.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt called on Friday for "cool heads" to prevail as threats mount.

"We want to do everything we can to make sure that we don't have an unintended escalation which could be very dangerous for the world," Hunt said.

The authorities of Gibraltar -- a British overseas territory on Spain's southern tip -- said on Friday that the Iranian supertanker was carrying 2.1 million barrels of light crude oil.

They also insisted that they had asked British Naval Marines to help with the Iranian tanker's arrest without any outside political pressure.

The Gibraltar police on Thursday announced the arrest of the Iranian tanker's Indian captain and officer, and on Friday two more Indian crew members were detained.

All four were bailed without charge late Friday, Gibraltar police said.

Related Links
Space War News

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Air strikes hit hospital, kill 11 civilians in northwest Syria: monitor
Jisr Al-Shughur, Syria (AFP) July 10, 2019
Regime and Russian air strikes on northwestern Syria on Wednesday killed 11 civilians including four children and knocked a hospital out of service, a monitor said. The raids are the latest in an uptick in deadly government and Russian bombardment since late April on the jihadist-administered region of Idlib despite a months-old truce deal. Regime air strikes killed seven civilians including three children in the town of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Ri ... read more