UAE troops take part in Yemen offensive in Marib - in pictures

Yemeni General Abd al-Rab Qassim al-Shadadi speaks to his troops at a UAE military base near Saffer, Yemen on Monday. As fighting rages on in Yemen, troops from the UAE that are part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels are pushing toward the country’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Adam Schreck / AP

An Emirati soldier checks the gun atop an armoured vehicle at a military base near Saffer in Yemen’s Marib province. Adam Schreck / AP

An Emirati Chinook military helicopter lands at the military base near Saffer. Adam Schreck / AP

A soldier from the UAE peers out of his armoured vehicle in the front lines of a coalition offensive against Yemen’s Houthis rebels in Marib province. Noah Browning / Reuters

Emirati Brigadier General Ali Al Kaabi takes a phone call atop a sand dune at the UAE military base near Saffer. Adam Schreck / AP

A group of soldiers trained by Emirati and Gulf Arab forces flash the victory sign near a military base in Marib province. Yemeni troops and Gulf special forces have captured several areas around Sirwah district in Marib since a military offensive in the province began on Sunday. Noah Browning / Reuters

An airman from the UAE Armed Forces gives a comrade a bullet during a flight from a base in Saudi Arabia to the front line of the anti-Houthi offensive in Yemen’s Marib province. UAE and Saudi forces have played a leading role in the months-long campaign to liberate Yemen from the Iran-allied rebels. Noah Browning / Reuters

An Emirati soldier jumps from an armoured vehicle in Marib. Noah Browning / Reuters

A group of soldiers trained by Emirati and Gulf Arab forces gather with Yemeni tribesmen gather near a military base in Marib province. Noah Browning / Reuters

Armed Yemeni tribesmen sit in the back of a pickup truck in Marib, where they are fighting alongside Yemeni troops and soldiers from the Gulf against Houthi rebels. Noah Browning / Reuters

Pro-government forces pushed Houthi rebels from several areas of Marib on Monday and surrounded a rebel-held district in the west of the province. The commander of an Emirati contingent taking part in the campaign said the provincial capital had been secured. Although the rebels have abandoned many areas of the province, the advance of Yemeni troops and the Saudi-led regional coalition, which includes the UAE, is being slowed by mines laid by the rebels.