Yemeni forces liberate 1,200 km2 in Ma’rib in large-scale operation against Saudi-backed mercenaries

Yemeni forces have succeeded in liberating an area of 1,200 square kilometers in their latest advances against the Saudi-led war coalition’s mercenaries in the country’s oil-rich province of Ma’rib, according to the country’s armed forces.

“The Yemeni units succeeded in fully liberating the districts of Mahliyah and al-Rahba during the third phase of Operation al-Nasr al-Mubin (Clear Victory),” the spokesman of the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said at a press conference on Saturday.

Praising the role of tribes in the operation for liberation and independence of Ma’rib, Saree said 151 mercenaries loyal to the coalition were killed or injured during the operation and some of them were taken captive by the Yemeni Army and allied popular committees.

He also made it clear that the Yemeni forces are “determined to complete the liberation of all of Yemen’s territories, so as to achieve freedom, dignity and independence for our people.”

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies—emboldened by their Western-manufactured arms—launched a devastating war against the poorest Middle Eastern country to reinstall Yemen’s overthrown government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in Sana’a and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement.

The war, accompanied by a tight siege, has failed to reach its goals and killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people, putting millions more at risk of starvation by destroying much of the country’s infrastructure.

According to General Saree, the war coalition’s warplanes conducted 484 air raids in order to prevent the liberation of the two districts.

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During the press conference, the Yemeni Armed Forces also showed footage of the third phase of Operation al-Nasr al-Mubin, including the escape of a number of members of the Saudi-led coalition.

In a Twitter post after the presser, the spokesman published a photo of the areas cleared in the latest operation, saying, “Map showing the freed area in Operation al-Nasr al-Mubin 3, estimated to be about 1,200 km².”

The Yemeni Army and allied popular committees liberated Az-Zahir and As-Sawma'ah districts of Bayda province in the first phase of Operation al-Nasr al-Mubin, which lasted 72 hours.

During the second phase of the operation, the districts of Nu’man and Nata’e in Bayda province were also liberated. Both phases were conducted in July.

The Yemeni forces have also stepped up their retaliatory attacks deep inside Saudi Arabia in recent months.

The Sana’a government, which is run by the Ansarullah movement, has warned Saudi Arabia to stop the war and siege of the country, or to expect larger and more extensive operations.

Yemen maintains that its operations against Saudi Arabia are defensive in nature and would end as soon as Riyadh ends the war and siege against the country.

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