Hundreds of Sudanese soldiers arrived in Saudi Arabia last week on their way to Yemen, indicating that Khartoum is increasing its involvement in the war despite earlier promise, the Middle East Eye reported, citing sources .
Sudan announced in January that it would reduce its military presence in Yemen from about 5,000 to a “small” group of about 650 soldiers, after having up to 15,000 troops deployed there since 2015 as part of the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen.
Saudi sources told news agency Middle East Eye that 1,018 Sudanese army officers and soldiers have entered the kingdom by sea on September 22, and reached the southeastern city of Jizan near the Yemeni border.
An informed source said that two Sudanese planes carrying military personnel left Khartoum for Najran airport in southern Saudi Arabia the day before the naval regiment arrived.
Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir decided to take part in the war in Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia in 2015 to help Saudi puppet ruler Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi regain power. Sudanese forces were particularly active on the country’s Red Sea coast frontline.
Since the overthrow of al-Bashir’s government years ago, the new rulers -a mixture of civilians and military- have begun to withdraw Sudanese forces out of Yemen, yet a few hundred rapid support forces have remained in the UAE-controlled city of Aden and on the Saudi-Yemeni border.
Last week, Sudanese media reported that Rapid Support Forces had sent 28 people from Western Darfur to fight in Yemen.
