JM News UK

Yemeni Vice President Khaled Bahah said on Thursday he hoped a Saudi-led Arab coalition battling Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen would not send in ground troops. Arab military exercises planned for Saudi Arabia have raised speculation that the coalition, which has been bombing the Houthis from the air for three weeks, is considering land operations. "We still hope that there is no ground campaign in line with the air strikes," Bahah told a news conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He called on the armed forces to support the "legitimate" Yemeni government in exile and said a ceasefire must precede any peace initiative.