Yemeni forces have fired a domestically-designed ballistic missile at a position of Saudi militants loyal to the resigned Yemeni president in the country’s central province of Ma’rib.
Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Yemen News Portal website that massive explosions were heard Thursday evening as the missile hit arms deport inside al-Khashina base south of the al-Juba district.
Other reports said a number of militants had been killed or injured in the attack.
Al-Khashina base is said to be one of the major bases of Saudi-backed militants in Ma’rib and serves as the headquarters of the 26th Brigade of forces loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The development comes only a few days after Yemeni army troops and their allies seized full control over the Harib al-Qaramish district of Ma’rib province.
Media outlets associated with Hadi’s administration reported on Wednesday the death of Harib’s governor, Nasser Ali al-Qahati, during the confrontations that led to the district’s recapture.
Yemeni forces on Thursday fully liberated the strategic central province of al-Bayda, inflicting heavy blows to the Saudi-led military coalition and its Daesh and al-Qaeda allies, military spokesman General Yahya Saree said.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.
The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases.
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Yemeni armed forces and allied Popular Committees, however, have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.
A ship carrying Israeli spy devices docks at Socotra
Yemeni sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said a ship carrying Israeli spy devices has docked at the strategic island of Socotra, and its consignment has been offloaded by UAE-affiliated militants.
Al-Khabar al-Yemeni news website, citing the sources, reported that a number of Southern Transitional Council (STC) militants surrounded the port of Socotra and prevented the inspection of the ship.
The United Arab Emirates has reportedly helped Israel further conduct military and maritime reconnaissance off the Yemeni coast and set up a center for that purpose on Socotra Island.
Yemen News Agency, citing local sources, reported earlier this month that the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates had signed a contract with Israel to create an intelligence center for the Israeli air force at Socotra Airport.
Home to some 60,000 people, Socotra overlooks the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the main shipping route that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It has a unique ecosystem.
Socotra has been a source of tensions between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which have been jockeying for position for the control of the island’s unique resources in the absence of a powerful government in Yemen amid a ferocious war on the country.
Back in June 2020, UAE-backed STC separatists took control of Socotra in a move described by Hadi as “a full-fledged coup”.
