[21/08/2021 02:00]

RIYADH-SABA
Yemen's Minister of Information said the death of an Iranian military expert during the Houthi militia's battle against government forces in Marib on Friday "confirms the Iranian involvement" in the Yemeni conflict.

Speaking to Saba, Muammar al-Eryani said the death of Haydar Sarjan, an Iranian military expert, alongside nine Yemeni Houthi militants in an Arab Coalition airstrike in Serwah front, west of Marib, shows the magnitude of the destabilizing role Iran plays in Yemen.

"The Iranian expert worked in training [Houthi militants] in the mountainous infantry specialty and in preparing combat tactic plans," said Al-Eryani. Al-Eryani said the Iranian expert "had served as a consultant to the militia in the Western Coast until June 5, 2021 and on June 7 he was deployed to Marib front to replace the slain Mustafa Algharawi, one of the Lebanese Hezbolla experts."

Iran's sending of hundreds of IRGC experts and smuggling of all types of weapons including ballistic missiles and drones "shows the nature of the battle in Yemen as one of an Iranian expansion of influence in the region."

Al-Eryani called on the international community "to take a firm stance against the Iranian open interference, military escalation, and prevention of peace in Yemen."

He said the Persian state is responsible for "the continuity of bloodshed and exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis" in Yemen.

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