Boom and bust: A UAE commander has been revealed as former US military officer and breast enhancement salesman Stephen Toumajan.

charmed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de-facto ruler of the UAE.





A top commander in the Emirati army, currently fighting a devastating war in Yemen, has been revealed to be none other than Stephen Toumajan, a former US military officer .Although Toumajan left the US army with the rank of lieutenant colonel, the Emiratis appear to have bestowed on him the rank of major general.The revelations came on Monday in an explosive report by BuzzFeed that further corroborates reports the Emiratis are paying foreign contractors - essentially mercenaries - for combat operations from Yemen to Libya, though Toumajan denied he is involved in the war in Yemen.According to the report, Toumajan, a colourful character, had run a breast enhancement business in Tennessee for a brief period before relocating to Abu Dhabi, where he quicklyThe former special operations soldier would eventually help set up and lead the UAE's Joint Aviation Command, which, according to experts on the UAE's military, operates most of the nation's combat helicopters. Since then, the body has gone on a shopping spree for equipment, the UAE being one of the world's top buyers of arms.There is confusion over the exact nature of Toumajan's role. He has denied being part of the Emirati army command structure but in proceedings inside the US he has declared himself a general "for the United Arab Emirates".The UAE is part of the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. The war has claimed more than 10,000 civilian lives amid accusations against the Arab coalition of perpetrating war crimes, triggering calls for an arms embargo on Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.Reports first emerged in 2015 that the UAE was sending mercenaries to fight in Yemen, choosing not to send its own citizens to fight in the chaos.Sudanese Janjaweed, Colombians, South African and other foreign troops are all being trained and dispatched by ex-military experts from France, the UK and Australia in the UAE's presidential guard.