Alwaght- More than 1,000 Saudi troops have been killed during Riyadh-led coalition's over three-year aggression on neighboring Yemen.
The death toll was registered after more than a dozen Saudi forces were killed during recent cross-border operations against Yemen, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday, citing Saudi state media outlets.
This is a rare admission of the Saudi military casualties. The kingdom has a policy of withholding information on the casualties it has suffered during the war.
Meanwhile, figures released by the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights suggested that over 600,000 people have been killed or injured in the Saudi-led campaign, which is meant to crush Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall its former Riyadh-friendly officials.
The Houthi movement, backed by allied Yemeni forces, has been defending the country in the face of Saudi-led attacks.
The Yemeni army and allied fighters have hit military positions in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern region of Asir with a ballistic missile and destroyed them, al-Masirah television said on Sunday.
Yemeni forces have recently stepped up their counter-attacks, taking their operations to border regions of Saudi Arabia, where they usually carry out ground and missile attacks against positions belonging to the Riyadh military.
Forsaken force?
Over three years into the war, signs of resentment are showing up among the Saudi troops amid the prolonged war, which has well fallen short of achieving its declared objectives.
"Some Saudi soldiers are now openly talking of their anger and resentment of being neglected by authorities,” the Al Jazeera report said.
One soldier said, “We live in fear. We don’t have enough food. We look as if we’re begging. We didn’t ask for millions or promotions. We just need to pay our debts and get the services we deserve. We need our salaries to send them to our families for them to be able to live. I wish he will give us more attention."
He was apparently referring to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the kingdom’s defense minister and architect of the war.
lso been providing the invasion with logistical support and aerial refueling.
