The spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces says Yemeni army troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees well managed to thwart a large-scale offensive by Saudi-paid militiamen against the capital Sana’a.
“With the help of God Almighty, our armed forces were able to confront a major act of aggression that was targeting the capital, Sana'a. They subsequently launched a counterattack, which led to the liberation of all areas of Nihm district (in Sana’a province). Enemy forces suffered heavy losses as regards military equipment and personnel in the process,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree said at a press conference in Sana’a on Wednesday.
He added that Yemeni soldiers and their allies advanced west of the city of Ma’rib, and wrested control over several areas in the neighboring provinces of Ma’rib and al-Jawf.
Saree highlighted that the liberated areas cover an expanse of more than 2,500 square kilometers.
The high-ranking Yemeni military official went on to say that thousands of Saudi mercenaries were killed, wounded orcaptured during the operation, code-named Solid Structure.
Saree noted that the operation resulted in the complete destruction of three military brigades and twenty battalions of the Saudi forces, and seizure of large quantities of military equipment.
He highlighted that Yemeni forces also fired ballistic missiles and mounted drone strikes against facilities belonging to the Saudi state oil giant Aramco in the kingdom's southern border region of Jizan, targeted Abha International Airport as well as Jizan Regional Airport, and struck King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait besides other sensitive targets in the depth of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past nearly five years.
The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.