Turkey is willing to provide "logistical support" to a Saudi-led regional military coalition to halt the advance of Zaidi Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told France 24 on Thursday.
Ankara declared its support for Saudi-led airstrikes against alleged Houthi sites in the Yemeni capital Sanaa early on Thursday morning, saying that it had been informed about them in advance, according to an earlier official statement reported in Turkish newspaper Today Zaman.
In their rapid expansion south from Sanaa over the last few weeks, Houthi fighters on Wednesday entered the southern coastal city of Aden, where Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had found refuge after he fled the Houthi-controlled capital last month.
Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have joined the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has said that Pakistan and Morocco would also take part.
The US has announced that it is “providing intelligence and logistical support” in the military action, and the UK has stressed its support as well.
The EU, Iraq and Algeria have rejected military intervention as a solution to the Yemeni crisis.
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