News / Yemen

Dozens killed in Saudi push to take Yemeni port

Thursday, 09 February 2017 8:31 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 February 2017 8:31 AM ]

Yemeni militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi sit in the back of an armed vehicle after clashes with Houthi fighters in Mokha, Jan. 23, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Nearly three dozen people have been killed after Houthi fighters and militias loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi clashed for the control of a strategic coastal city in Ta'izz province.

The clashes took place in the Red Sea port city of Mokha on Wednesday in which at least eight Saudi mercenaries were killed, medical sources said.

Pro-Hadi militia forces backed by the Saudi air force began a major offensive on January 7 to recapture Mokha which overlooks the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden from Ansarullah fighters.

Yemeni troops on Wednesday also shot down a Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle in the northwestern province of Sa’ada.

This photo provided by the media bureau of Yemen’s Joint Operations Command shows a targeted Saudi reconnaissance drone in the Baqim district of Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada on February 8, 2017.

A military source said the reconnaissance drone was struck while collecting information on the positions and movements of Yemeni forces and their allies in the Baqim district of the province.

Two high-ranking Saudi officers and several soldiers were killed when a powerful explosion ripped through their vehicle northeast of the al-Hathera district in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Jizan.

Saudi military sources said Major Abdullah Bin Shaiban Hassan Hamdi was among those killed.

Saudi warplanes launch fresh airstrikes across Yemen

Saudi warplanes carried out four airstrikes in the Harad district and another in the Midi district in Yemen's northern province of Hajjah but there were no reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage.

Saudi jets also targeted Yemeni soldiers off the coast of the al-Khawkhah district in Hudaydah Province, though no casualties were reported.

Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following Saudi airstrikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on February 1, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Furthermore, Saudi aircraft pounded the city of Sirwah, which lies about 120 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

The Saudi war on Yemen, which local sources say has killed at least 11,400 people, was launched in an attempt to bring back the former government to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

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Saudi Arabia Yemen Middle East Ansarullah Houthis Yemeni forces Ta'izz Sa'ada Hudaydah Popular Committees Yemeni troops Hajjah Saudi aggression Jizan Saudi mercenaries