Yemen’s army and its allied Ansarullah forces have liberated several more areas from the clutches of the Saudi-backed mercenaries near Ma’rib, and are moving closer to fully liberating the city, which is the last stronghold of Saudi militants in northern Yemen.
On Monday, the Yemeni forces liberated at least three areas of al-Ya’re, al-Savad and al-Hajire near the Jubah district, some 50 kilometers south of Ma’rib, the capital city of an eponymous province, local sources and Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.
he liberation of these areas marks the latest gain scored by the Yemeni forces as part of an operation aimed at purging Ma’rib of the Saudi-backed militants.
The oil and natural gas-rich province has turned into a focus of the Yemeni army’s liberation operations since last year.
In an attempt to prevent the Yemeni troops from reaching the strategic city, the Saudi-led coalition has been conducting deadly air raids on the region.
Local tribes hand Saudi bases over to Yemeni forces
Al-Masirah also reported that local tribes in the province had reached some agreements with Yemeni forces to evacuate a number of Saudi-led bases and camps in the region and hand them over to the advancing army troops.
The province of Ma’rib is the last stronghold of militants affiliated with former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. They are supported by Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has been backed by the US and regional allies in the war on Yemen since March 2015. The military campaign’s objective was to bring Hadi back to power and crush Ansarullah, which had overthrown the previous Yemeni government in a revolution.
The Saudi-led war on its southern neighbor 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.
In the meantime, Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.