SANA’A (Dispatches) – The Yemeni defense minister says the country’s future retaliatory strikes would target areas beyond Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, warning the Saudi-led coalition against any new act of aggression against the war-wracked country after a truce was violated.
“We will never hesitate to bombard very sensitive and important facilities, and we will include them in the list of our future targets.
“The designated targets will not be constrained to areas within the borders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE; and could be situated in regions much beyond these two countries,” Yemen’s al-Masirah television network quoted Major General Mohammad al-Atifi as saying.
He added, “We once again warn the regional countries which support the coalition of aggression that we will employ surprising tactical and strategic methods during the war.”
The Yemeni defense minister also emphasized that there is no obstacle in employment of homegrown ballistic missiles and combat drones to launch retaliatory strikes against enemies.
“We will make the aggressors scream in pain. We won’t pay any attention to their cries for help then. We have mobilized our armed forces for a strategic military decision. Enemies are strongly advised not to test our spirit and resilience,” Atifi pointed out.
His remarks came after Yemeni Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf stressed that the UN Security Council should not turn into an international platform, which justifies and legitimizes Saudi-led aggression against the impoverished Arab nation.
Sharaf lambasted the UN body’s attempts to distort facts and display as if the demands put forward by Sana’a are excessive and unrealistic, stressing that such an approach attests the Security Council’s collusion with the opposite party and utter disregard to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.
He called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and put an end to the Saudi-led military aggression and broad siege, which lack any logical and legal basis.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the U.S. and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.