A senior official of the Saudi-backed government of Yemen is asking for US military help in its battle against the Houthi Ansarallah movement but is being coy as to exactly what that means. “We definitely need the military and security support of the United States,” said Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, a vice chair of Yemen’s ruling Presidential Leadership Council. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City on Wednesday, Bawazir declined to say whether his government was seeking direct US strikes or another form of military assistance, but emphasized the need for “mutual coordination on the intelligence and security fields,” reported Al Monitor.

“The aerial campaigns are important, but supporting the Yemeni government and forces on the ground is indeed a guarantor to end the danger of those militias,” Bawazir said. He did not say whether that means American ground troops.

Al Monitor notes that so far, President Trump has refused to get involved in Yemen beyond some tepid intelligence and targeting support to the Saudis.

According to social media reports as of Thursday night, heavy fighting was still going on around Taizz, but the Houthis had yet to fully close the road from Taizz to Aden. The Saudis are continuing air strikes against Houthi targets to which the Houthis responded with missile strikes on two airbases in southwestern Saudi Arabia, as well as the Red Sea port of Yanbu and “sensitive targets” in Riyadh. A Friday report also claimed that Ansarallah had launched a cross border operation against a concentration of Saudi and Sudanese troops in southern Saudi Arabia.