Scores of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have lost their lives when Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees launched strikes against their position in the country’s southern province of Lahij.
Local officials and medical sources said Yemeni troops and their allies carried out several attacks using armed drones and ballistic missiles on the al-Anad military base, which is the largest base in the war-wracked country, on Sunday.
They said at least 30 Saudi-backed militants were killed and more than 50 others wounded as a result.
Saudi shelling kills civilians
At least three civilians lost their lives when Saudi border guards launched barrages of artillery rounds at two separate residential areas in Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada.
Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that a civilian was killed when projectiles fired by Saudi military forces slammed into the Shada'a district of the province on Saturday.
Saudi troops also pounded Raqou area in the Monabbih district of the same Yemeni province, leaving two civilians dead.
Hudaydah truce violated over 330 times in 24 hours
Furthermore, forces of the Saudi-led military coalition and their mercenaries violated 338 times during the past 24 hours a ceasefire agreement between warring sides for the western coastal province of Hudaydah.
Yemen’s official Saba news agency, citing an unnamed source in Yemen’s Liaison and Coordination Officers Operations Room, reported that the violations included 13 reconnaissance flights over various regions, including al-Faza, al-Durayhimi, al-Jabaliya and al-Tuhaita districts, in addition to 206 counts of artillery shelling and 287 shooting incidents.
Yemeni drone strike on Khamis Mushait
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition claimed in a statement that the city of Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern province of 'Asir was targeted by Yemeni army troops and fighters from their allied Popular Committees.
Although Yemeni forces have not yet confirmed the drone attack, the Saudi-led coalition alleged to have intercepted and destroyed a Yemeni unmanned aerial vehicle.
Yemeni officials, including spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree, have repeatedly stressed that Saudi military areas are under the direct attack of Yemeni missiles and drones.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies, launched a war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah resistance movement.
The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases.
Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees have, however, gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.