Yemen: Over 257,000 Saudi-led air strikes in 5 years

The Saudi-led coalition has carried out over 257,000 air strikes on Yemen since the start of its aggression five years ago, revealed the pro-Houthi Yemeni army spokesperson yesterday.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree stated during a press conference in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that thousands of Yemeni people were killed and tens of thousands wounded as a result of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition’s military intervention in addition to a significant loss in public service facilities, reported Yemen Press Agency.

Yemen’s military establishment including its headquarters, units, equipment, personnel and leaders were the first target of the coalition forces according to Saree. It was recently reported that the US was behind the destruction of Yemen’s air defences prior to the coalition air strikes.

The statistics may be greater than indicated as “the coalition raids announced by us are limited to what was monitored, and there are raids that were not monitored, especially during the first years of the aggression war,” said the spokesman.

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However, it was also revealed that the joint army-Houthi forces launched some 1,067 ballistic and winged missiles against coalition targets including some within Saudi and Emirati territory with information about new defence missile systems to be showcased in the near future.

Saree affirmed that that “the Yemeni people will not forget the victims of the Great Hall massacre in Sanaa, nor the massacre of Dhahiyan children in Saada victims, and will not forget the victims of the horrific brutal massacres of aggression coalition in all regions of the country.”

The army spokesman added that “the great Yemeni people have overcome many and many tragedies and difficulties during the past five years, and they with the help of Allah will overcome what is left with patience, determination and sincerity.”

Sanaa-based news agency Saba also reported that Saree warned that the sixth year of the war in Yemen “will be harsher and more painful” than the previous years and that Yemen is no longer the same today as it was in terms of military capabilities.

Some analysts believe Saree’s use of the term “pre-emptive strikes” in the conference suggests that Sanaa has passed the stage of reactive warfare and has the potential to dictate the direction of the conflict, especially with references made to Yemen’s capacity to severely damage the economy of aggressor states.

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