US deploys 1,700 Marines to Yemen

The United States has deployed 1,700 Marines with advanced arms and military equipment to Yemen, says a Yemeni military official.

Some 1,500 Marines were deployed to a military base in the country’s southern province of Lahij, the official said.

Another 200 also arrived in the capital, Sana’a, to join the American forces already stationed there.

The official also said that American forces usually enter the country in small groups, but the recent large deployment could be in preparation for a possible imminent incident in the region.

The United States has stepped up its drone operations in Yemen over the past few years, killing many civilians in the Muslim country.

According to the Washington-based think tank, the New America Foundation, the US drone attacks in Yemen almost tripled in 2012.