Saudi cities to become legitimate targets for Yemeni troops: Army

The Saudi cities of Jeddah, Abha, and the capital Riyadh will turn into legitimate targets for the Yemeni forces in their retaliatory attacks against the kingdom, which is continuing military aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor, a spokesman for the Yemeni army says.

Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman made the remarks on Saturday, a day after attacks by Ansarullah fighters and their allied army units killed dozens of Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini soldiers in Yemen’s Ma’rib province.

The Yemeni official also said the number of Emirati troopers killed in the raids goes beyond 75, contradicting the UAE’s official figure standing at 45.

The Emirati troops as well as five Bahraini soldiers were killed on Friday in an arms depot blast in al-Safer airport in Ma’rib, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of the capital Sana’a, a source at the scene said. The Ansarullah fighters said the blast was caused by a rocket attack.

In a separate attack, at least 16 Saudi soldiers were killed in an ambush by Ansarullah fighters and their allied army units near the Mash’al base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Jizan region. Riyadh has confirmed 10 of the fatalities.

Early on Sunday, Saudi bomber aircraft pounded the Yemeni capital Sana’a several times.

On Saturday, Yemeni forces launched missile attacks at several targets including a military camp in Jizan.

Later in the day, Saudi warplanes targeted the camps of internally displaced Yemenis in the northwestern Sa’ada province, killing at least eight people including women and children.