In one day, the Saudi-led coalition carried out more than 20 operations targeting Ansar Allah Houthi sites in Ma’rib Governorate (in the north of the country), while the Houthis said they had shot down an American spy plane.
And the coalition said – in a statement yesterday – that it killed 90 Houthi fighters in 27 targeting operations carried out by the coalition’s warplanes in Ma’rib governorate within 24 hours.
The coalition added that “the targeting operation destroyed about 31 military vehicles belonging to the Houthi militia.” The statement continued, “The coalition’s air operations coincided with the continuation of violent battles between government forces and the Giants Brigades and the Houthi militia on many battle fronts in Ma’rib Governorate.”
The Yemeni army announced that its forces launched an attack on Houthi militia positions south of Marib; This resulted in deaths and injuries, and the destruction of their combat vehicles and equipment.
Houthi media reported that the coalition warplanes launched 30 raids on the governorates of Marib, Al-Jawf (north), Al-Bayda (central) and Al-Hodeidah (west).
And the media center of the Yemeni armed forces said – in a brief statement – that “the coalition aircraft targeted a site for the Iranian Houthi militia in Jabal Habashi, west of Taiz” (western Yemen). The center added that “the aerial bombardment led to the killing of at least 9 members of the Houthi militia and the destruction of artillery.”
spy plane
The military spokesman for the Ansar Allah group, Yahya Saree, said on Twitter that the group’s air defenses managed to shoot down an American spy plane while it was carrying out what he described as hostile acts in the airspace of the Juba District in Ma’rib Governorate.
The military spokesman for the Houthis explained in a tweet that the US spy plane was a “Scan Eagle”, and it was shot down yesterday evening, Saturday.
In Shabwa Governorate (southeast), the French Press Agency quoted an official in the Giants Brigades that its forces, which repositioned after the end of operations they carried out in the governorate, did not leave the fronts; Rather, it began putting up defensive fortifications to repel any Houthi attacks.
And these Emirati-backed brigades announced yesterday, Friday, that they had begun repositioning their forces in Shabwa governorate, and said that this step came after completing an operation called “Hurricane of the South”, during which it was able to recover the districts of Usaylan and Baihan from the Houthis.
The military and strategic expert, Fayez Al-Duwairi, told Al-Jazeera that the repositioning of the brigades of the UAE-backed giants aims to send an internal and external political message that includes reducing the level of escalation.
UN report
Yesterday, Saturday, the regional and international team of experts on Yemen said that the Houthi group had recruited 562 children during 5 months of the past year, who died in the fighting in the country.
In its annual report issued yesterday, the United Nations team of experts added that it had documented cases of the Houthis threatening families benefiting from humanitarian aid by removing their names from the list of beneficiaries if they refused to allow their children to join the group’s forces.
The United Nations team of experts also accused the UAE of committing financial, political and military abuses in Yemen, and said that the Emirati role is incomprehensible.
The experts’ report said that the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council had undermined the Riyadh Agreement signed in 2019 to end the conflict between the government and the Transitional Council in southern Yemen.
It is noteworthy that Yemen has been suffering for nearly 7 years from a continuous war between the pro-government forces backed by a coalition led by Riyadh, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have controlled several governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.