Two Iranian military officers advising Houthi rebels have been captured in Yemen’s southern city of Aden during fighting on Friday evening, Popular Resistance sources in the city told Al Arabiya News Channel.
The claims were supported by Reuters news agency which quoted local militiamen as saying the two Iranians were from an elite unit of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards.
“The initial investigation revealed that they are from the Quds Force and are working as advisors to the Houthi militia,” one of the militia sources told Reuters. Both men, who were identified as a colonel and a captain, were seized in two different districts rocked by heavy gun battles, the news agency reported.
“They have been put in a safe place and we will turn them over to Decisive Storm to deal with them,” the source added.
Tehran has strongly denied providing any military support for Houthi fighters, whose advances have drawn Saudi-led air strikes in a campaign dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm.”
But if confirmed, the presence of two Iranian officers would deepen tensions between Tehran and Riyadh.
