Obama on Saturday expressed his “deep condolences” in a phone call to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme UAE Armed Forces Commander Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the White House said in a statement.
“The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the people of the UAE and with the families of the fallen,” the statement added.
The 45 soldiers were killed on Friday when Ansarullah fighters and their allied army units fired a missile at an arms depot at a military base in Yemen’s eastern province of Marib, the UAE’s state news agency WAM reported.
The retaliatory raids, in Ma’rib, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of the capital Sana'a, also killed 10 Saudi and 5 Bahrain soldiers.
A spokesman for the Yemeni army said the number of Emirati troops killed in the raids goes beyond 75, contradicting the UAE's official figure of 45.
Obama offered condolences as Saudi Arabian airstrikes have killed 4,500 people in Yemen since the kingdom launched its military aggression against the country on March 26 without a UN mandate.
Saudi Arabia intends to undermine Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the country’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The raid happened on the same day that Saudi King Salman met Obama in Washington, with Yemen high on the agenda.
“We share a concern about Yemen and the need to restore a functioning government that is inclusive and can relieve the humanitarian situation there,” Obama said; Press TV reported.