Yemeni combat drone strikes Saudi military base in Asir: Report

Yemen's army and its allies have struck a Saudi military base in the kingdom's southwestern region of Asir with a combat drone, managing to capture dozens of mercenaries in the western coasts of Yemen following a retaliatory offensive.

Yemen's official Saba news agency, citing an unnamed military official, reported on Saturday that a Yemeni unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), type Qasef-1 (Striker-1), struck King Khalid air base in the city of Khamis Mushait earlier in the day.

The possible death toll and the extent of the damage inflicted upon Saudi troops and the military base in the retaliatory attack have not been released yet.

Back in February 2016, the Yemeni army announced that it had pounded the military base with two ballistic missiles.

Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported that the army air defense units, backed by fighters from the Houthi Ansarullah movement, also managed to shoot down a spy drone of the so-called coalition led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s northern province of Jawf.

Some 20 spy drones have been shot down since the Saudi war on the impoverished country began over three years ago.

PressTV-Yemeni army downs Saudi spy drone in Asir

Yemeni army forces have shot down a Saudi-led reconnaissance drone in a border area in the kingdom’s southern region of Asir.

In a separate development on Saturday, Yemeni troops, backed by popular committees, carried out an ambush on mercenaries supported by Saudi Arabia in Doreihami district in Yemen’s province of Hudaydah in western part of the peninsular country, killing or wounding a large number of them, Lebanese al-Manar television channel reported. It added that Yemeni forces also captured at least 35 mercenaries in the successful ambush.

Saudi Arabia and some of its allies launched a brutal war, code-named Operation Decisive Storm, against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s former president and a staunch ally of Riyadh, and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement. The movement, which is a significant aid to the Yemeni army in defending the country against the invading forces, has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration during the past three years.

The imposed war initially consisted of a bombing campaign but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen.

The ambush came two days after at least 55 people were killed when the coalition’s warplanes hit a hospital and a fishing harbor in Hudaydah.

A day earlier, at least nine fishermen were killed after Saudi-led warplanes targeted their ship off the coast of the province.

PressTV-Children main victims of Saudi war on Yemen: Activists

Thousands of Yemeni children in the city of Hudaydah are at risk of death, disease and starvation due to Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression, rights groups warn.

Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.

The Saudi-led aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country's infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. The United Nations has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

Several Western countries, the United States and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

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