The Yemeni attack involved dozens of ballistic missiles and drones, targeting sites from which Saudi warplanes took off to strike Yemen.
Originally published in The Cradle.
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry issued a warning on 14 September, saying that Saudi Arabia will have no security as long as it continues its brutal attacks against the country.
“If the Saudi enemy imagines, after three hundred raids in five days by Saudi aircraft taking off from Khamis Mushait and Taif bases, that its situation will remain secure and stable, it is delusional,” the ministry said, days after a Saudi strike killed over a dozen in a prison in Al-Jawf.
Since then, Saudi airstrikes have continued but have failed to halt a Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) advance across the western coast and Red Sea islands.
The YAF announced a major military operation targeting military sites within Saudi Arabia earlier on Monday, which involved dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.
The YAF said it “carried out a major and extensive military operation targeting military facilities and infrastructure at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait” in southern Saudi Arabia.
The operation was a “response to the blatant Saudi aggression targeting our country and our people, and amid the major escalation it is carrying out by launching more than 300 airstrikes over the past five days with Saudi F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets, targeting most of the Yemeni governorates and taking off from the air bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif.”
The Yemeni army added that jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition sites, and “other targets” were hit.
“The operation inflicted major losses on the base … The armed forces will continue their … military operations deep inside Saudi territory for as long as its unjust aggression against our people continues. Any new aggression will be met with broader and more severe operations.”
Sirens blared in Saudi Arabia overnight due to Yemen’s strikes.
The Ansarallah-led YAF also seized on Monday more Red Sea islands that were previously occupied by UAE troops, after storming several of them just days earlier.
According to multiple news agencies, including AFP, the YAF has taken the Hanish Archipelago.
Emirati-backed militias remain present on some of these islands, but have taken serious losses in recent days and are steadily losing ground to the YAF.
Saudi-backed forces have also sustained major losses.
Recent YAF footage has shown them fleeing from battle, having their military vehicles blown up, or being taken captive.
The entrance to the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait has been captured by the Yemeni military.
Additionally, the YAF has seized foreign military equipment from groups such as the Giants Brigades and forces belonging to the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), including Israeli equipment.
Saudi energy sites have also been ravaged by YAF missiles and drones recently, including Aramco sites across the country.
Sanaa’s recent escalation of retaliatory operations was prompted by Saudi Arabia’s July attack on Sanaa International Airport, which has been under blockade by the kingdom for more than a decade since Riyadh launched its brutal war on Yemen in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition.
A 2023 Saudi–Yemeni peace process nearly resulted in an agreement between the two sides.
The peace talks stalled but prevented a major escalation from erupting. Yet the kingdom has continued attacks for years and maintained its illegal and deadly blockade of Yemeni ports and airports.
Sanaa has been heavily mobilizing and has vowed to fully expel the Saudi-led coalition from Yemen.
A source cited in a new CNN report said that the new Yemeni victories mark a “Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions.”
The kingdom is said to be seeking military support from the US and Pakistan, and – according to Hebrew media – has indirectly requested Israeli intelligence backing.
Shannon Jones is a member of the Spirit of Mandela’s Peoples' Senate Coordinating Committee.
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