Key area in Al Houthi bastion freed

ADVANCED IRAN-MADE WEAPONS SMUGGLED TO MILITANTS SEIZED IN SA’ADA

These weapons are so sophisticated that it is difficult for the coup militias to handle them unless they had specialised training courses.”

Brig. Abdu Abdullah | Spokesman, Yemeni Army

Yemeni army troops have liberated a major district in the Al Houthi stronghold Sa’ada as part of a massive operation in the far northern province against the Iran-allied militants, a military source said yesterday.

Supported by an Arab Saudi-led coalition, the government forces retook full control of the district of Al Dhaher in the north-west part of Sa’ada after having inflicted heavy casualties on Al Houthis, the source told September Net, a news portal linked to the Yemeni Defence Ministry.

“The battles have resulted in dozens of Al Houthi militants dead or injured including field commanders,” the source added.

The army forced the remaining militants to flee towards the north-west province of Hajjah, according to the source.

Last month, government forces launched a major campaign dubbed ‘Cutting the Snake Head’ in Sa’ada. They have since made territorial advances there.

Iranian-made weapons, including advanced wireless devices left behind by fleeing militants, have recently been seized in Sa’ada, spokesman for the Yemeni Army Brig Abdu Abdullah said.

“These weapons are so sophisticated that it is difficult for the coup militias to handle them unless they had specialised training courses,” he told Saudi newspaper Asharq Al Awsat in remarks published yesterday.

“There is no solution to stop these illegal [smuggling] operations without liberating these sites, which the militias have turned into platforms for threatening international navigation and firing ballistic missiles at neighbouring countries,’ Abdullah added.

The Iran-aligned rebels have used Sa’ada as a launch pad for firing ballistic missiles across the border into Saudi territory.

Call for accountability

Meanwhile, a legal team of the Arab coalition said yesterday that an attack on a bus last month in the country did not comply with the alliance’s rules and called for accountability. The attack on the bus in the area of Dahyan in Sa’ada in north Yemen left dozens dead. The coalition’s accident assessment team in Yemen investigated the attack.

“The air mission targeted a bus carrying armed Al Houthi elements,” said the team’s spokesman Mansour Al Mansour at a televised press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Al Mansour presented images of the site of the bus attack at the conference, showing two camps of Al Houthi militiamen in the area.

He added that the order to strike the bus was withdrawn after civilians were seen in the area. “But it [order] came too late after the bus had been targeted,” Al Mansour added.

A number of leading rebels were killed in the strike. However, Al Mansour said that management of the strike in Dahyan did not comply with the coalition’s rules.