Several killed as Yemeni army, allies fighters launch missile strike on Saudi-led forces in Ma’rib

Yemeni military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Lebanon-based and Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network that the missile struck with precision a gathering of Saudi-led military commanders and officers in the so-called Third Military Region of Ma’rib on Thursday.

The sources added that a number of senior Saudi-led mercenaries were killed and wounded as a result.

Earlier in the day, an unnamed source said the Yemeni military forces and Popular Committees fighters had repelled an attack by Saudi-backed militants loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur against al-Zour area in the Sirwah district.

The source noted that a number of military vehicles belonging to Hadi loyalists and Saudi-led militants were destroyed, adding that several pro-Hadi militants and Saudi mercenaries were killed and injured as well.

The source said the Yemeni armed forces and their allies have purged the desert area of al-Jadafir, which lies between Ma’rib and the northeastern Yemeni province of al-Jawf, of pro-Hadi and Saudi-led coalition forces following fierce clashes.

Yemeni minister: US deploying al-Qaeda, Daesh terrorists to Ma’ri

Yemeni Information Minister Dhaifallah al-Shami said the United States deployed al-Qaeda and Daesh Takfiri terrorists to Ma’rib in order to stop advancing Yemeni army forces and Popular Committees fighters from making further gains.

“The United States of America blatantly seeks to stop the liberation of Ma’rib. It doesn’t have any confidence in its Yemeni mercenaries, and considers its intervention in Ma’rib as legitimate since the territory is of paramount significance. Its liberation would mark the end of aggression, and would be a major setback for those conspiring against Yemen and its nation,” Shami said.

He added that involvement of the al-Qaeda and Daesh Takfiris in Ma’rib battles is not something new, as they are tools in Washington’s hands to implement its projects worldwide.

“When we faithfully took up arms to confront al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorists, the US expressed deep resentment… Our battles against the terrorists exposed to the entire world the falsehood of US claims of war on terror,” the Yemeni minister pointed out.

Shami noted that whilst Washington publicly calls for peace and an end to the war in Yemen, it secretly supports the Saudi-led military aggression.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi’s government back to power and crushing the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to the United Nations, 80 percent of Yemen’s 30 million people need some form of aid or protection. About 13.5 million Yemenis currently face acute food insecurity, UN data shows.