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Daesh terrorists confirm fighting alongside Saudi mercenaries in Yemen

This file photo shows militants carrying a UAE flag aboard a vehicle in Yemen.

The Daesh terrorist group has openly confirmed that its members are fighting alongside Saudi-backed mercenaries against Yemen’s army and forces from popular committees in the province of Ma’rib.

Over the past few weeks, Ma'rib has been the scene of major operations by Yemeni forces pushing hard to recapture it from forces loyal to the former Saudi-backed government. 

Daesh issued a short statement on Wednesday, saying it has carried out operations against Yemen’s Ansarullah forces in Ma’rib province, killing and wounding a number of the movement’s forces. 

The new development came after Ansarullah forces and their allies in the Yemeni army launched a major offensive to retake Ma’rib, which is considered as the last stronghold of Saudi-backed forces in northern Yemen. 

Their advances have raised concerns in the Saudi-led coalition and their allies, including the US. On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Ansarullah to halt its offensive and end retaliatory strikes on Saudi Arabia. 

The movement says the call proves US support for terrorist elements in Ma'rib.

Last October, the Foreign Ministry of Yemen’s National Salvation Government first said that militiamen loyal to  former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were closely working with al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorists.

The ministry, in two separate identical letters addressed to the United Nations and the UN Security Council, elaborated on clean-up operations carried out by Yemeni armed forces and fighters from the Popular Committees against al-Qaeda and Daesh terror cells in the central province of Bayda.

The letters said there were foreign nationals, mostly Saudi citizens, among militant commanders and combatants slain in Yemeni operations. Large amounts of weapons, bombs and explosive belts were also seized, the letters said.

A senior Yemeni official also said last month that Washington was fighting alongside Takfiri terror outfits such as Daesh and al-Qaeda against Yemen. 

“This American description [of Ansarullah] comes from the same people fighting on the same front with Daesh and al-Qaeda against us,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, told Russia Today on January 18.

Al-Houthi said the US was supporting the two terror groups so it could use them as “its two arms” to fight Yemen’s defense forces.

The official, meanwhile, denounced the US as the “killer of the Yemeni people,” saying Washington had to apologize to the Arab nation and compensate it.

He was referring to the unreserved arms, logistical, and political support that Washington has been lending to Saudi Arabia and its allies during a war they have been waging against Yemen since March 2015.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have died, millions more have been displaced, and the entire impoverished country has turned into the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The US-backed Saudi war was launched to restore Hadi, who had fled Yemen amid a power crisis and refused to stay behind and negotiate.

Ansarullah: Daesh-based coalition responsible for crimes against people of Ma'rib

Hours later, the political bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement issued a statement noting that the announcement by the criminal Daesh group reveals the close relations between forces of aggression in Ma’rib province and the Takfiri terrorist outfit.

The statement added that the terrorist coalition, which includes Daesh, is responsible for all crimes committed against the people of Ma’rib.

Ansarullah’s political bureau also announced that the Yemeni people will not stand idle and will continue to fight to save the country.

It added that Yemeni people will continue to fight against the coalition of criminals and murderers, which pursues no goal, but to create chaos in the Arab country and pave the way for further foreign interventions.


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