Alwaght- Yemeni forces launched a series of retaliatory missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia, hitting Aramco oil facilities in the kingdom’s southern regions as well as King Abdulaziz Air Base in the Eastern Province.
Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said in a statement released on Friday morning that 12 domestically-manufactured Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) combat drones in addition to eight ballistic missiles of Zulfiqar, Badr and Saeer types struck targets in the Saudi cities of Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Yanbu as well as Jizan, home to key Saudi Aramco oil installations, as part of large-scale Operation National Day of Resilience.
He said that King Abdulaziz Air Base, also known as Dhahran Air Base, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province capital city of Dammam was also targeted in the drone and missile strikes.
The Yemeni forces also launched six Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) armed drones against military sites in Saudi Arabia’s Najran, situated 844 kilometers (524 miles) south of the capital Riyadh, and Asir regions.
Saree said the drone and missile attacks struck their designated targets with great precision.
He warned Saudi Arabia and its allies against the dire consequences of their ongoing war and blockade against the Yemeni nation.
He said the Yemeni armed forces and allies are fully prepared to carry out harsher and more severe military operations against targets in the depth of aggressor countries.
Yemenis rally in support of Ansarullah to mark war anniv.
Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Yemen to show their unwavering support for the Houthi Ansarullah movement and reiterate their strong resistance in the face of the devastating Saudi-led military campaign as the Yemen war entered its seventh year.
Men, women and children gathered in Sabeen Square in central Sana’a since the early hours of Friday morning, waving the red, white and black national flags.
They chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia, which leads the military coalition against Yemen, and denounced US support for it.
They also lashed at the US main ally in the region, Israel, for destroying their country.
Similar rally were also staged in the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf, and Raymah province close to Sana’a.
People in other Yemeni regions are scheduled to participate in mass rallies later in the day to mark the National Day of Resilience.
Saudi Arabia has lost the war in Yemen: Deutsche Welle
A senior associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs says Saudi Arabia has failed its military onslaught against Yemen.
“Saudi Arabia has lost the war in Yemen — and that is chiefly because the Biden administration has made clear that it no longer supports the Saudi operations there,” Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) television news network quoted him as saying.
Back in early February, President Joe Biden claimed the United States would end its support for the Saudi war in Yemen, and the withdrawal of important logistical support and intelligence from the Riyadh-led alliance.
Steinberg noted that Yemeni armed forces and fighters from their allied Popular Committees now have the upper hand as they are in control of the capital Sana’a, have established full control over large swaths of northwestern Yemen, and are advancing to seize the strategic oil-rich city of Ma’rib – one of the last strategically important regions for Saudi-backed militants loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Steinberg said this could lead to the formation of two large opposing camps: “the Houthis in the north, on the one hand, and the separatist forces and their allies in the south — that could definitely culminate in the division of Yemen.”
South Yemen existed as an entity before the unification of Yemen in 1990.
Steinberg said Saudi Arabia might have lost the Yemen war, but that does not automatically mean an end to the conflict.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and its other regional allies, launched the devastating military campaign on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi’s government back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.
The Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees have, however, gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.
The Saudi-led military aggression has so far resulted in nothing, but the killing and wounding of tens of thousands of Yemenis, as well as the displacement of millions of deprived people, destruction of infrastructure, famine, starvation, and the spread of infectious diseases in Yemen.
