Yemeni army liberated more areas in Shabwa

The Saudi forces on Thursday evening foiled a major offensive by the Houthi militias and the ousted Saleh’s militia against military checkpoints on the Saudi-Yemeni border in Jazan region. Military sources confirmed that the Saudi forces managed to thwart the attack, inside the uninhabited Yemeni border villages in the governorate of Sa'ada where the militias gathered to launch the attack.

Military sources stated that their positions were identified through the joint operations’ control room, where they were dealt with through rocket launchers, artillery and the Apache helicopters. Al Arabiya correspondent reported that the attack lasted two hours and ended with the killing of dozens of Houthis and the destruction of a number of military vehicles loaded with ammunition.

On the military side, Yemen National Army units have liberated more areas in Maqbanah District, west of Taiz City, from the rebel Houthi group and captured Awadh Al Brak, the second-in-command of the group in the district. 

Following an attack on the rebel Houthis and their allied renegade militants loyal to the now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the national army liberated Jabal Al Muqanna, Tabbat Al Khazzan, and Al Dashen area south of Maqbanah District, a military source told the official Yemeni news agency SABA. 
Dozens of rebels were killed and injured in the hours-long battles and the rest fled away, the source said. 

Meanwhile, jet fighters from the Arab Coalition carried out air strikes on the positions and reinforcements of the rebels in Mafraq Al Wazeeya, Al Aqma and Khaled Camp. Violent explosions followed the air strikes. Three other air strikes conducted by the Coalition on Al Kasara, Al Hameli bridge, Jabal Shu’ayb and Al Barada killed a large number of rebels and destroyed their military equipment. 

Separately, drones fired missiles at suspected Al Qaeda targets in two separate attacks in Yemen on Saturday, local sources said, in what appeared to be a third successive day of US strikes against militants in the country. Tribal sources and residents said one of the pilotless aircraft unleashed its missiles on a vehicle travelling on the outskirts of the southern city of Ahwar, killing two suspected Al Qaeda members inside.

Another fired at a crowd of suspected Al Qaeda militants in Al Saeed, in the adjacent province of Shabwa, but there were no reports on casualties in that incident. Asked to comment, a Pentagon spokeswoman said the US military had conducted additional strikes on Friday night and would provide more details on Monday.

On Friday, the military said it had carried out over 30 strikes over the previous two days in three Yemeni provinces, and did not rule out conducting more. The operations, using manned and unmanned aircraft, highlight the increasing US military focus on a group that has gained in strength by exploiting the chaos of the country’s civil war.

Local Yemeni officials and residents have said that at least nine suspected Al Qaeda members died in two separate drone strikes on Thursday. US military strategy in Yemen has become a hot political issue after a commando raid in January, authorised by President Donald Trump, resulted in the death of US Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens.

Critics questioned the value of the mission, drawing a fierce rebuttal from Trump, who said it had yielded vital intelligence. The Emirates Red Crescent delivered emergency food assistance to the residents of Ar Raydah Wa Qusayar District in Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen, as part of the UAE’s continuous efforts to ease people’s suffering from the severe humanitarian impact of war sparked by the rebel Houthi militia and allied insurgents loyal to the now-ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

This is the latest in a series of humanitarian deliveries to a large number of underprivileged families, said the supervisor of Emirates Red Crescent’s projects in Hadhramaut. Riyadh Bin Taleb, the secretary of the governor of Hadhramaut for relief and reconstruction affairs, thanked the UAE and its humanitarian agency for the initiative. These huge efforts will always be remembered by the Yemeni people, he said.