JEDDAH: Saudi forces stationed on the southern border carried out a surgical military operation Thursday morning in Yemeni territory off Najran.
Military sources told Arab News that the Saudi forces were successful in breaking into a strategic site of the Republican Guard loyal to the deposed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that was used as a launching pad to shell the city of Najran.
Republican Guard soldiers fled, leaving behind their weapons and ammunition.
Meanwhile, a joint Saudi and United Arab Emirates operation in Jazan, as part of the Arab Coalition forces, ambushed Houthi militiamen who tried to sneak into the region and captured more than 10 rebel infiltrators.
In another development, coalition aircraft on Wednesday carried out successful airstrikes on a number of Houthi positions in Al-Makhdara, in the central province of Marib, and three strikes on a Houthi-controlled radio station in Taiz, where rebels were stationed. Other raids targeted putschists in Sanaa and in Alab, in the province of Saada.
Military and strategic analyst retired Maj. Gen. Shami Al-Zahri said the key strategic site the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh are clinging to is Bayhan in the Shabwa province.
“They are desperate not to lose this region because if they do the supply line for weapons to Houthi strongholds will be cut off. Bayhan is the key to controlling the eastern region, especially Shabwa, Marib and Hadramout, because it is connected to Al-Bayda governorate, one of the strategic northern bases that provides direct support, generally to the south, and especially to Marib,” Al-Zahri said.
The roads linking Bayhan to the outside world, according to Al-Zahri, are protected by mountains that extend from Al Bayda to the edge of Ramlet Al-Sabatain.
Military sources told Arab News that the Saudi forces were successful in breaking into a strategic site of the Republican Guard loyal to the deposed Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that was used as a launching pad to shell the city of Najran.
Republican Guard soldiers fled, leaving behind their weapons and ammunition.
Meanwhile, a joint Saudi and United Arab Emirates operation in Jazan, as part of the Arab Coalition forces, ambushed Houthi militiamen who tried to sneak into the region and captured more than 10 rebel infiltrators.
In another development, coalition aircraft on Wednesday carried out successful airstrikes on a number of Houthi positions in Al-Makhdara, in the central province of Marib, and three strikes on a Houthi-controlled radio station in Taiz, where rebels were stationed. Other raids targeted putschists in Sanaa and in Alab, in the province of Saada.
Military and strategic analyst retired Maj. Gen. Shami Al-Zahri said the key strategic site the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh are clinging to is Bayhan in the Shabwa province.
“They are desperate not to lose this region because if they do the supply line for weapons to Houthi strongholds will be cut off. Bayhan is the key to controlling the eastern region, especially Shabwa, Marib and Hadramout, because it is connected to Al-Bayda governorate, one of the strategic northern bases that provides direct support, generally to the south, and especially to Marib,” Al-Zahri said.
The roads linking Bayhan to the outside world, according to Al-Zahri, are protected by mountains that extend from Al Bayda to the edge of Ramlet Al-Sabatain.
