Yemeni forces ready to strike sensitive sites deep inside aggressors’ territories: Defense Minister

The Yemeni defense minister says the country’s armed forces are prepared to target the strategic depths of Saudi Arabia and its allies in retaliation for their devastating war and all-out blockade.

Major General Mohammad al-Atifi said Yemeni soldiers and their allies are fully mobilized and prepared to decisively counter any hostile threat or act of aggression by the Riyadh-led military coalition.

He noted that the Saudi-led aggressors are intensely regrouping and trying to expand their presence in Yemeni provinces, regions and islands, which have been occupied by Takfiri militants either allied to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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• Terrifying future awaits Saudi Arabia, allies over war on Yemen: Senior Ansarullah official

‘New phase of military confrontation will be completely different’

A senior member of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement said on Sunday night that “the new phase of military confrontation with Saudi Arabia will be completely different compared to previous bouts, as Yemeni armed forces will employ all tools of power in their possession to exercise power against any threat.”

Mohammad al-Bukhaiti told Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network that the Saudi-led alliance has failed to put forward any initiatives that would respond to the Yemeni nation’s demands and has not provided a mechanism aimed at resumption of salary payments to all civil servants.

He denounced the Saudi-led coalition over attempts to provoke internal disputes in Yemen by means of paying salaries of a fraction of civil servants and pitting people against each other.

“Our hands will not be tied and we will give an adequate response to the Yemen siege if the legitimate demands of the Sana’a-based National Salvation Government are not taken into consideration,” Bukhaiti said.

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“Yemeni armed forces enjoy the necessary combat preparedness to strike the depths of aggressor countries,” the senior Ansarullah official asserted.

‘Complete ceasefire established once Saudi siege on Yemen lifted’

Head of Yemen’s national negotiating delegation Mohammed Abdul-Salam told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network a nationwide ceasefire would be established once the brutal siege against Yemen is lifted and Saudi-led coalition forces are completely pulled out.

He said an Omani delegation had constructive negotiations with Ansarullah chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat, and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mohammad Abdulkarim al-Ghamari.

“Since the end of the UN-brokered nationwide ceasefire in early October, we have had intensive consultations with other parties, including direct meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia and the United Nations in Muscat. Our forces have also imposed new military equations in Yemen,” Abdul-Salam said.

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“The Saudi-led coalition must realize the fact that we have entered a new phase of confrontation. We are not witnessing any commitment on the part of the Riyadh-led alliance to the ceasefire. Our Omani brethren are making efforts to secure the truce,” he added.

“A permanent ceasefire could be established once the all-out siege against Yemen is lifted, the salaries of civil servants are fully paid, and occupiers are completely withdrawn,” Abdul-Salam said.

Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states, launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015

The objective was to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah group, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen, and reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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