Sudan Nationals Attacked İn Yemen Over Anti-Houthi Campaign

Several Sudanese nationals have reportedly been attacked in Yemen over Sudan's participation in a Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite Houthi group.



Two Sudanese students at Sanaa University were attacked and robbed by Houthi gunmen in the Yemeni capital late Thursday.



"Mohamed Osman and Yassar Osman, students at Sanaa University, were attacked by gunmen belonging to Houthi militias," Omar, a relative of one of the two students, who preferred to give his first name only, told The Anadolu Agency on Friday.



According to Omar, the pair was assaulted on a main road in Sanaa and had their mobile phones and money stolen by people they described as Houthi militants.



"The attackers told them that Sudan's participation in the military operation in Yemen would lead to dangerous consequences for Sudanese nationals in Yemen," he said.



Bakri, a Sudanese national in Yemen, said he, too, had been attacked in a market in the central city of Taizz by people he described as Houthi militants on Friday.



Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Alsadiq, for his part, said he had no information regarding the incidents.



He said the Sudanese authorities were awaiting reports from the Sudanese embassy in Yemen on the security of Sudanese nationals in the country.



Sudan on Thursday announced its participation in a Saudi-led offensive against Yemen's Houthis, which began with a string of airstrikes late Wednesday.



Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to calls by Yemeni President ABD Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention to "save the people of Yemen from the Houthi militias."



Fractious Yemen has been in turmoil since last September, when the Shiite militant group overran capital Sanaa, from which it has sought to extend its influence to other parts of the country as well.



Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting the Houthi insurgency.



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