Yemeni army, allies attack Saudi Arabia’s Jizan airport by drones

The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces says army troopers and allied fighters from Popular Committees have launched a string of airstrikes against hangars in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan airport near the border with Yemen, using a squadron of domestically-manufactured Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat drones.

Speaking during a press conference in the capital Sana’a on Saturday, Brigadier General Yahya Saree (pictured below) said the unmanned aerial vehicles struck the designated targets with precision, noting that the operation led to the disruption of air traffic at the airport.

Saree reiterated that the Yemeni drone strikes are in line with the right of self-defense, and a legitimate response to the continued Saudi-led military aggression against Yemen and the blockade of the conflict-plagued Arab country.

Scores of Saudi mercs slain in Yemeni army attacks

Meanwhile, scores of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi lost their lives when Yemeni army soldiers and Popular Committees fighters launched separate offensives against their positions across the country.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told the media bureau of the Houthi Ansarullah movement that Yemeni troops and their allies launched a drone strike against a gathering of Saudi mercenaries in Qaniyeh area of the country’s central province of al-Bayda on Saturday, leaving many of them dead or injured.

Yemeni soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees also dealt a heavy blow to Saudi-backed militia forces in the al-Wazi’iyah district of the southern province of Ta’izz, when they struck their fortifications with a number of domestically-manufactured ballistic missiles.

Elsewhere in the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf, Saudi mercenaries suffered a major setback when Yemeni soldiers and their allies targeted their military camps in Sabrin area of the Khabb wa ash Sha’af district.

Also on Saturday, a civilian lost his life and seven others, mostly women and children, sustained injuries when Saudi-paid militiamen targeted residential neighborhoods in the western coastal city of Hudaydah.

A civilian was killed after Saudi-sponsored forces launched a barrage of mortar shells at Sawiq area in the al-Tuhayta district of Hudaydah province.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.