ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Sunday ordered the construction of a memorial in Abu Dhabi for more than 60 Emiratis who have died in the fight to restore stability in Yemen.
Reflecting the desire of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the memorial will be a tribute to the Emirati heroes who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and will keep their memory alive in the hearts of future generations.
Sheikh Mohammed has instructed the Martyrs Families’ Affairs Office at the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court to oversee the construction of the memorial.
Meanwhile in Aden, president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi on Sunday urged Shiite rebels to lay down their arms and resume dialogue to end Yemen’s conflict, as he left for the UN General Assembly in New York.
The embattled leader, who returned on Wednesday to the southern city of Aden after a nearly six-month exile, said in a letter to Saudi Arabia's King Salman: "I am open to all efforts seeking a political solution." .
Mr Hadi also called on rebels “to end their coup, surrender weapons ... and return to the dialogue table”.
An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, supported by the UAE, has been pounding the Iran-allied Houthi militia in Yemen from the air for six months, trying to eject the group from the capital Sanaa and restore the internationally recognised president Hadi to power.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday denied that coalition air strikes killed 25 civilians in a Yemeni village of Bani Zela, in Yemen’s Red Sea border area with Saudi Arabia.
Residents and medics had said earlier that helicopters from the Saudi-led alliance killed the civilians, most of them women and children.
A Saudi official said: “This is totally false news. We deny it.”
Meanwhile, air strikes targeting weapons facilities in the Hagga, Marib, Hodeida and Bayda provinces killed a total of 38 Houthis, according to Yemeni security officials who are neutral in the conflict.
The incident comes a day after the kingdom announced that three of its officers, including a general, had been killed along the frontier.
* Agencies
