SANAA (Dispatches) – Yemeni armed forces launched new drone strikes targeting positions and equipment of Saudi-backed mercenaries in Al-Dhalea province on Sunday, as clashes intensify across multiple fronts.
The attacks are the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Yemeni forces and Saudi-backed factions, with fighting reported in Marib, Hajjah, and along the western coast. 
Yemeni military sources confirmed their forces used attack drones to target mercenary positions in Al-Dhalea, striking military gatherings and armored vehicles in precise operations.
The fresh attacks come amid some of the most intense fighting since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022. Yemeni forces have in recent days launched missile and drone strikes against Saudi-backed positions in Marib and Hadramout provinces, targeting military camps and gathering points. 
On August 20, Yemeni forces announced they had used two drones to strike Najran airport and Aramco facilities in southern Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace over Saada province.
In a separate operation on Sunday, Yemeni air defense forces shot down a Saudi Scan Eagle spy drone over Hajjah province, according to a military source who spoke to the official SABA news agency. 
The drone was reportedly downed with “appropriate weaponry” while conducting surveillance missions over the province. The Scan Eagle is a small, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle used for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance.
Adding a new dimension to the fighting, a hacking group identifying itself as Uways al‑Qarani and affiliated with Yemen’s Ansarullah movement announced its formal establishment.
In a statement, the group declared itself “the offensive cyber arm of the resistance front” operating under direct Ansarullah command. 
“Members of this group have been trained and mentored by senior members of the Hanzala hacking group for years,” the statement read. 
“Our goals are to stand against the aggression and conspiracies of the enemies of the Islamic nation.” The group claimed recent operations included successful phishing and media infiltration in occupied territories. 
The military escalation coincides with ongoing Saudi economic pressure on Yemen. Since August 2016, the payment crisis for Yemeni employees has become one of Riyadh’s most effective tools of leverage against the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis.
Saudi Arabia has bombarded critical infrastructure, seized control of Yemeni oil resources, and transferred the Central Bank from Sanaa to Aden. 
The Yemeni Ministry of Finance in Sanaa estimates direct losses from unpaid wages over the past decade at approximately 10 trillion riyals, equivalent to over $18 billion. 
However, Ahmad Muhammaed Hajar, a legal adviser at the Ministry, believes the actual figure could be between $74 billion and $76 billion.