Saudi Soldiers Killed in Yemeni Retaliatory Attack

TEHRAN (IQNA) – At least three Saudi soldiers were killed when Yemeni army soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees launched an attack against a military base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Jizan as they continued their retaliatory raids against Riyadh regime’s aerial bombardment campaign.

Yemeni forces and their allies fatally shot the troopers in the al-Farizeh military base of the region, located 969 kilometers south of the Saudi capital city of Riyadh, on Tuesday afternoon, the website of the Houthi Ansarullah movement reported. 

Later in the day, scores of Saudi-backed Yemeni militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were killed and injured in a roadside bomb attack in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf, Press TV reported.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni army soldiers and Popular Committees fighters detonated an explosive device as a vehicle carrying the Saudi mercenaries was traveling along a road in the Khabb wa ash Sha'af district of the province.

Elsewhere in the al-Durayhimi and Hays districts of Yemen’s western coastal province of Hudaydah, a host of Saudi-backed militiamen lost their lives and sustained injuries when Yemeni forces targeted their military vehicles.

Separately, Saudi fighter jets and artillery units launched two airstrikes and a barrage of projectiles at the Shada'a district of the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa’ada. There were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

The Yemeni Ministry of Health also revised the death toll from an earlier Saudi airstrike against a residential area in the al-Durayhimi district of Hudaydah حrovince, stating that the number of deaths now stands at 13, based on public health records. Twenty-two people have also suffered injuries.

The ministry added that ongoing Saudi aerial attacks have prevented ambulances and medics from reaching the area, calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene in order to help the wounded.

Some 16,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Sauid-led aggression on Yemen in March 2015. 

The United Nations says a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

A high-ranking UN aid official has warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there is a growing risk of famine and cholera there. 

“The conflict has escalated since November, driving an estimated 100,000 people from their homes,” John Ging, UN director of aid operations, told the UN Security Council on February 27.