News / Yemen

Several soldiers killed, injured as Yemenis launch drone strike on Saudi army: Report

Sunday, 12 May 2019 4:30 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 12 May 2019 5:17 PM ]

This file picture provided by the media bureau of Yemen’s Operations Command Center shows a domestically-designed and –manufactured Qasef-1 (Striker-1) combat drone.

Several Saudi soldiers have been killed and dozens of others sustained injuries when Yemeni army soldiers, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, launched an airstrike against a military position in the kingdom’s border region of Asir.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni soldiers and their allies attacked a gathering of Saudi troops in al-Rabu'ah town of the region on Sunday, using a domestically-designed and -manufactured Qasef K2 (Striker K2) combat drone.

The source added that several Saudi soldiers were killed in the aerial assault, and dozens of others sustained injuries.

Separately, scores of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed and injured when Yemeni soldiers and their allies struck their strongholds in the al-Wazi’iyah and Hayfan districts of the southwestern Yemeni province of Ta'izz.

Yemeni Soldiers loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement line up during a graduation ceremony for a new batch of cadets in the northwestern city of Sa’ada on April 20, 2019, in a show of support against the Saudi-led aggression on the country. (Photo by AFP)

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 Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a December 2018 report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN said in a report in December 2018 that over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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