Operation Restoring Hope : US cuts military advisers to Saudi-led coalition in Yemen

The US military has slashed the number of intelligence advisers directly supporting the Saudi-led coalition's air war in Yemen, the US Navy said on Saturday.

The reassignment of personnel, around June, occurred because "there was not the same sort of requests coming in for assistance" from the Saudis, Fifth Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey told AFP from Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia has faced repeated criticism from rights groups over civilian casualties in its 17-month-long campaign against rebels in Yemen.

US officials have regularly urged their major Middle East ally to avoid harming non-combatants in Yemen.

• But McConnaughey said the US reassignment of personnel does not affect their ability to support the Saudis and is a more efficient allocation of resources.

"That's the main reason behind it, and it's based on the amount of requests that we receive from the Saudis."

He said the United States now has "a limited number, less than five, that are working directly on the advisory cell that we have there."

That number is down from about 45, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, at its peak.
  [i24news - AFP]
20/8/16
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