The United Arab Emirates said it has coordinated its moves in Yemen, including the redeployment of troops from the Arab impoverished country, with Saudi Arabia.

“The redeployment in Al-Hudaidah is a result of a wide dialogue within the coalition. We discussed the strategy for the next stage [of a campaign] in Yemen with Saudi Arabia”, Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs wrote on Twitter late on Friday.

In June, media reported that the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s key coalition partner in its campaign in Yemen, was partially withdrawing its contingent from Yemen due to domestic security concerns.

In July, other media, citing UAE officials, said that the scaling down of the military presence had been caused by the ‘de-escalation’ of the conflict between the warring sides in Yemen: forces of Saudi-backed fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and Yemeni revolutionary forces known as Houthis.

Gargash also said on Friday that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh shared position on the situation in the Persian Gulf area.

“As for Iran, our common position outlines the need to avoid standoff and to prioritize political efforts”, Gargash explained.

This week, coast guards of the United Arab Emirates and Iran held their first meeting in six years. Abu Dhabi said the meeting had been positive, adding that the officials mostly addressed security for fishermen in the waters of the two countries.

Yemen has been since March 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led Coalition, in a bid to restore control to fugitive Hadi who is Riyadh’s ally.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the strikes launched by the coalition, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

The coalition, which includes in addition to Saudi Arabia and UAE: Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait, has been also imposing a harsh blockade against Yemenis.

Source: Agencies