Saudi fighter jets attack international airport, airbase in Yemeni capital city

Saudi military aircraft have carried out a string of airstrikes against the Sana'a International Airport and al-Dailami airbase in the Yemeni capital city as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its atrocious aerial bombardment campaign against its impoverished southern neighbor.

News ID: 442537

Date: 21 December 2018 - 19:29

An unnamed military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Saudi jets launched three attacks against the strategic sites on Wednesday afternoon, without providing any information about the extent of damage caused.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting on the side of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi claimed in a statement, carried by Saudi Arabia’s state-run al-Ekhbariya television news network, that it had targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle, and “destroyed the aircraft that was in the process of preparing to be launched.”

The airstrikes are the first of their kind ever since delegates from the Houthi Ansarullah movement and Saudi-backed Hadi loyalists agreed on a truce for the port city of Hudaydah following UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden last week.

Also on Wednesday, a Saudi reconnaissance drone was seen hovering in the skies over al-Tuhayat district in Yemen’s western coastal province of Hudaydah.

A man stands amidst the rubble on December 17, 2018, at a factory damaged during fighting and airstrikes, as clashes recently raged between Yemeni Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi Ansarullah fighters. (Photo by AFP)

Separately, Saudi warplanes mounted four airstrikes against al-Mazraq area in the Harad district of the northwestern Yemeni province of Hajjah. There were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

Furthermore, Yemeni army soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees carried out an offensive against several positions of Saudi mercenaries in the Nihm district of Sana’a province, leaving scores of the militiamen dead and injured.

According to Press TV, Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

A child patient is checked by an ophthalmologist in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on December 15, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

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