News / Yemen

Nearly dozen Saudi mercenaries killed, several others injured in Yemeni army offensive

Monday, 01 July 2019 1:13 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 July 2019 2:39 PM ]

Saudi-sponsored Yemeni militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi march past portraits of Hadi hung on banners during their graduation ceremony in the country's southern city of Ta’izz, on March 11, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Nearly a dozen Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have been killed and several others injured when Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees launched an offensive against their positions in the kingdom’s southern border region of Najran.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told the Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni troops and their allies mounted an operation in the al-Hamad area of the region, located 844 kilometers south of the capital Riyadh, on Monday afternoon, leaving ten Saudi mercenaries dead and several others injured.

Separately, seven civilians, including two women and a boy, sustained injuries when Saudi artillery units struck a residential neighborhood in Yemen’s western coastal city of Hudaydah.

Local sources said the projectiles slammed into July 7 neighborhood late on Sunday, destroying a house.

Yemeni soldiers loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement line up during a graduation ceremony for a new batch of cadets in the northwestern city of Sa’ada on April 20, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Elsewhere in al-Dhabeh area in Yemen’s southern province of Ta’izz, Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees repelled Saudi-paid militiamen’s attack on their positions, killing a number of the mercenaries in the process.

Several Saudi mercenaries were also killed or injured in Azraq district in the southern Yemeni province of al-Dhale, when Yemeni troopers and their allies struck their strongholds in the area.

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

A malnourished infant receives treatment at a hospital in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on June 27, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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