Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu stressed that Malaysia was not involved in the Saudi Arabia-led war against Yemen, but the stationing of Malaysian troops in Riyadh will be reviewed.

Mohamad said even though Malaysian troops were there only to facilitate the evacuation of Malaysians in Yemen, their presence had caused the country to be implicated in the conflict.

"The current government will review the decision of the previous government to station a team of Malaysian Armed Forces personnel in Saudi Arabia, which was to help with the preparedness of evacuating Malaysians in Yemen.

"Malaysia had never been involved in the offensive against Yemen, which is also an Islamic country.

"However, the Malaysian Armed Forces' presence in Saudi Arabia has indirectly caused Malaysia to become entangled in the Middle East conflict," Mohamad, who is popularly referred to as Mat Sabu, said in a statement today.

He said a decision on the deployment would be made soon, once the review is completed.

He stressed that Malaysia had always been a neutral country and does not subscribe to any political ideology held by global superpowers.

"Malaysia had at one point been active in the Non-Aligned Movement and had even been its chair," he said.

'War crimes'

Yesterday, Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen called on the government to pull out Malaysian troops from the Saudi-led coalition, which he described as an "ill-advised military adventurism".

Paulsen referred to 'various reports', including one from the United Nations Panel of Experts on Yemen to the UN Security Council, which stated that the Saudi-led military coalition attacks in Yemen "may amount to war crimes".

He said: "The report also stated that Malaysian military personnel were working alongside France, the United Kingdom and the United States at the coalition's joint headquarters in Riyadh to coordinate the war against the Houthi rebels and their allies in Yemen."

Saudi Arabia is currently waging war against Houthi rebels which have taken over the northern part of the country.

Alarmed at the rise of the rebels who are predominantly but not exclusively Shia Muslims, Saudi Arabia led a coalition comprising of mostly Sunni Muslims nations to subdue the rebels.

Saudi Arabia has accused the rebels of being backed by its regional rival Iran which is led by Shia Muslims.