New Yemeni Qasef K2 drone launches 2nd strike in less than 24 hours

Yemeni army forces, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have launched another airstrike with the new domestically-developed Qasef K2 (Striker K2) combat drone, less than 24 hours after they used the same unmanned aerial vehicle to target Saudi-paid militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni troops and their allies used the drone to strike Saudi soldiers in the kingdom’s southern border region of Asir.

The source added that the strike was carried out following intense aerial reconnaissance, stressing that scores of Saudi troopers besides several high-ranking commanders were killed in the assault.

The development came less than a day after spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said at a press conference in the capital Sana’a that Yemeni forces and Popular Committees fighters had attacked Saudi mercenaries at al-Anad Air Base in the country’s southwestern province of Lahij with a Qasef K2 drone.

Saree went on to say that dozens of high-ranking Saudi-paid militiamen were killed or injured in the aerial attack, noting that the injured mercenaries were transported by helicopter to Aden German International Hospital in the port city of Aden.

He pointed out that Saudi mercenaries were now in a state of panic and terror as a result of the high-precision military operation, stressing that their commanders would no longer be able to escape unscathed if they continued to serve the aggressors.

Also on Friday, a number of Saudi-backed militiamen were killed and injured, when Yemeni forces and their allies launched a salvo of artillery rounds at their position in an area of the Khabb wa ash Sha'af district of Yemen’s northern province of al-Jawf.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing Hadi’s government back to power and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US 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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