United Arab Emirates State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that the country is not leaving Yemen despite redeploying its forces there.
"Just to be clear, the UAE and the rest of the coalition are not leaving Yemen," he said in an op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post.
"While we will operate differently, our military presence will remain. In accordance with international law, we will continue to advise and assist local Yemen forces."
Gargash said the Iran-backed Houthi militias should see the UAE move as a "confidence-building measure to create new momentum to end the conflict".
"As the United Arab Emirates draws down and redeploys its forces in Yemen, we do so in the same way we began -- with eyes wide open," he said.
"There was no easy victory and there will be no easy peace. But now is the time to double down on the political process."
Earlier this month it said it was redeploying and reducing troops across Yemen for strategic and tactical reasons.
In Geneva meanwhile, UN envoy Martin Griffiths said the war in Yemen can be stopped because the warring sides still support the UN peace deal brokered in Stockholm last December.
“I believe that this war in Yemen is eminently resolvable,” he told reporters.
“Both parties continue to insist that they want a political solution and the military solution is not available. They remain committed to the Stockholm agreement in all its different aspects.”
He said that while the Stockholm agreement was taking some time to be implemented, both sides saw it as a gateway to opening up negotiations on a political solution, and the international community supported the deal.
