To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of Ministry of Defence personnel deployed in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.
Answered on
14 September 2018
In February 2015 the Government decided to withdraw diplomatic staff and suspend the operations of the British Embassy in Sana'a. The Ministry of Defence's Defence Attaché currently operates from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and has not visited Yemen since 2015. As the previous Foreign Secretary said in his written statement of 23 May 2018 (HCWS716), the UK remains committed to supporting the legitimate security needs of Saudi Arabia and guarding against the danger of regional escalation. To this end we are providing information, advice and assistance to Saudi Arabia to respond to the threat from Houthi missiles fired from Yemen.