Yemeni forces launch drone attacks on military sites in Saudi airbase

Yemeni army troopers, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have hit military sites in Saudi Arabia's southwestern region of Asir, using a squadron of domestically-manufactured Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat drones.

News ID: 446898

Date: 06 September 2019 - 22:14

RNA - The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said in a brief statement that the unmanned aerial vehicles struck with great precision the designated targets in King Khalid Air Base, which lies 884 kilometers south of the capital Riyadh, on Thursday afternoon.

Saree added that retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the Riyadh regime continues its military aggression, siege and relentless raids against the war-torn Arab country.

The development came shortly after Yemeni missile units and fighters from Popular Committees fired a number of domestically-manufactured Badr-1 ballistic missiles at Najran Regional Airport and some units of the Royal Saudi Land Forces.

Saree said the projectiles brought air traffic in and out of the airport to a halt, adding that ambulances were reported to be rushing to the scene.

The senior Yemeni military official noted that the operation targeted hangars for fighter jets and reconnaissance drones in addition to other military targets.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of 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 91,000  lives over the past four and a half years.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. 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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