SANAA (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabian warplanes have carried out fresh strikes against targets in southwestern Yemen, killing seven civilians, mostly women and children.
The attacks targeted Amran Province’s Harf Sufyan District on Wednesday, Yemen’s al-Masirah television reported, adding that three children and two women were among the victims.
Separately, Yemeni sharpshooters killed five Saudi-backed militants in the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Jizan during counter-attacks against the aggressors.
The mercenaries were advancing on the al-Doud and Dukhan mountains in the region.
Two military vehicles belonging to the militants were also destroyed in missile and mortar attacks by the Yemeni army in Jizan.
Separately, Yemeni forces fired three ballistic missiles at the positions of Saudi-backed militants in al-Jawf and Ma’rib provinces as well as in the country’s west coast.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has strongly condemned the UAE over its collusion with the al-Qaeda terrorist network in the Saudi-led military aggression against his country, stating that such a conduct has been supported by the U.S. administration.
"In the wake of the Saudi-led onslaught on Yemen and the aggressor’s desperate need for mercenaries, the UAE has cemented its relationship with al-Qaeda under the auspices of the United States,” Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network cited Mohammed Abdul-Salam as writing on his official Twitter page.
He added, "The recent report by The Associated Press attests to the fact that [Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE's Armed Forces] Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is a modern version of al-Qaeda leaders, and that Abu Dhabi serves as a hideout of the criminal group.”
The Associated Press report states that the Saudi-led coalition on Yemen, backed by the United States, has been paying some al-Qaeda commanders to leave key Yemeni cities, while allowing others to retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash.
It further noted that the Riyadh-based alliance has even recruited hundreds of al-Qaeda militants in Yemen.
Moreover, Washington was aware of the coalition’s secret deals with al-Qaeda, and avoided assassination drone strikes against members of the dangerous terror network.
"Elements of the U.S. military are clearly aware that much of what the US is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and there is much angst about that,” Michael Horton, a fellow at the Washington DC-based Jamestown Foundation, commented.
Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.
 
More than 15,000 Yemenis have died since Saudi Arabia intervened in the war.