Yemeni Army releases footage of “Victory from God Almighty” op against Saudi forces

Yemeni Army has released the footage of a large-scale military offensive carried out by Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees in Saudi Arabia’s southern border region of Najran, where three Saudi military brigades were completely destroyed and thousands of militiamen were taken into captivity.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Sana’a on Sunday afternoon, the spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree termed the operation, dubbed Victory from God Almighty, as the biggest ever since Saudi Arabia and some of its allies embarked on an atrocious military campaign on Yemen more than four years ago.

The military official said Yemeni forces had killed some 200 Saudi-backed mercenaries and took 2,000 others prisoner in the offensive.

"More than 200 were killed in dozens of (missile and drone) strikes while trying to escape or surrender," Saree said, adding that over 2,000 Saudi-backed mercenaries were also taken prisoner. 

The footage released by Yemeni forces starts with a description of the geographic location of the operational theater, showing Yemeni forces firing shells at the positions of Saudi forces and Saudi-sponsored Yemeni militiamen loyal to Yemen's former pro-Saudi president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

It then shows Saudi soldiers and their mercenaries fleeing the area on board pickup trucks and armored personnel carriers. Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees do not hesitate to target the fleeing Saudi forces and mercenaries, setting a number of their military vehicles ablaze.

The video then shows several armored vehicles overturned, and dozens of Saudi troopers surrendering to Yemeni forces with both their hands raised in air.

There were dozens of bodies strewn everywhere.

Some captured Saudi-backed militiamen said they had been paid and lured by the kingdom in order to participate in battles against Yemeni army soldiers and Popular Committees fighters, other owned up to having been forced to fight in Yemen.

The video footage went on to show captured Saudi-paid Yemeni militiamen and Saudi soldiers walking in droves, as Yemeni paramedics provided first aid to the injured prisoners of war while cleansing and dressing their wounds.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Saree said the Saudi army employs child soldiers in violation of international conventions.

In another part of the video, Saudi military aircraft are seen hovering in the skies over the area, firing a barrage of missiles.

The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces highlighted that almost 200 Saudi troops lost their lives as a result of the operation in Najran.

The footage concluded with showing considerable amounts of various munitions and weapons, including assault rifles and cartridge boxes, seized from Saudi soldiers and their mercenaries.

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.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

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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