Dramatic footage from two videos on YouTube posted by the Russian TV station RT and a new VICE news documentary bring the war in Yemen to the screens in front of us.
Video from RT shows very latest footage from the Coalition-backed effort to seize Al-Anad air base in Yemen, a key military asset that would be a significant strategic gain for pro-government forces. As Foreign Policy observes, the United Arab Emirates, a member of the coalition, deployed what is reported to be a brigade of tanks and other armored vehicles. Images on social media and on the video identify the tanks as Leclerc, which are French-made.
The Leclerc tanks clearly belong to, or are sourced from, the United Arab Emirates as only the UAE and France use them in active service. The UAE purchased 388 Leclerc main battle tanks from France, and had them serviced for $4b over a decade ago.
VICE News filmmaker Medyan Dairieh spent two weeks in Yemen’s seaport city of Aden, “surrounded by Houthi militia rebels and under siege ‘from air, land, and sea.'”
