Yemeni Armed Forces say they have targeted strategic and sensitive sites in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh and elsewhere in the kingdom by a squadron of domestically-manufactured combat drones and ballistic missiles. RNA - Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Sunday afternoon that Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) unmanned aerial vehicles and Zulfiqar short-range ballistic missiles struck designated targets in Riyadh last night with great precision.
He noted that Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees launched a barrage of Badr short-range ballistic missiles in addition to a squadron of Qasef-2k (Striker-2k) combat drones to pound economic and military sites in Saudi Arabia’s southern border regions of Jizan, Najran and Asir.
Saree reiterated that Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighter will continue its “painful strikes” deep inside the kingdom as long as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its deadly aggression and all-out blockade.
The top Yemeni military official concluded that more details about the Sunday’s retaliatory military operation will be publicized in the next few days.
Earlier in the day, local Yemeni source, requesting not to be named, told Press TV that the Yemeni forces had fired ballistic missiles at targets in Riyadh.
Saudi-owned and Dubai-based Al Arabia television news network reported that at least two missiles had been “intercepted” above Riyadh, while another one was “destroyed” over the southern border city of Jizan.
The report came as a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense said two people were wounded in the strikes. The contradictory accounts have not been explained yet by Saudi authorities.
Back in August, the Yemeni army and allied fighters from Popular Committees for the first time used a squadron of Sammad-3 combat drones to strike an “important military target” in the Saudi capital.
Brigadier General Saree said at the time that the drones struck the designated target with great precision, reiterating that the strikes were in response to the continued Saudi crimes and aggression against Yemen, and its blockade of the war-wracked Arab country.
The development came only a day after the Yemeni army forces and their allies launched a barrage of Badr-1 short-range ballistic missiles at strategic sites inside Jizan Regional Airport, also known as King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Airport.
The Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported back then that the projectiles targeted the hangars of Saudi warplanes and Apache attack helicopters besides some military sites at the airport.
The Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen, however, dismissed the report.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to bring Riyadh-allied former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi 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.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have purchased billions of dollars' worth of weapons from the United States, France and the United Kingdom in their war on Yemen.
Riyadh and its allies have been widely criticized for the high civilian death toll resulted from their bombing campaign in Yemen.
The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.
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