SANA’A -- Ansarullah-led Yemeni forces on Monday repelled Saudi-backed formations attempting to advance toward the Bab el-Mandab strait, inflicting heavy casualties including Saudi personnel and forcing a retreat that triggered infighting within the fleeing ranks, according to Sana’a-based military sources.

A Yemeni military source told the Saba news agency that forces repelled "failed advance attempts" by Saudi-backed mobilizations commanded by an officer identified as Badr al-Harbi toward Bab el-Mandab, inflicting "large numbers of dead and wounded, including Saudis".

The source said the defeat caused "a state of disputes and recriminations" among the Saudi-backed formations, and that Saudi officers were forcing their troops forward "regardless of the cost, even if it means thousands of dead".

The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, citing a senior military source in the Sana’a defense ministry, reported the same operation, describing the enemy's losses as "large" and confirming that Saudi nationals were among the casualties.

The source reiterated that Saudi officers were repeating failed attempts despite mounting losses, insisting that "advances must be achieved" at any price.

In a statement issued Monday, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree announced three retaliatory operations conducted over the preceding 48 hours.

Dammam airport was struck in two phases with two drones, successfully disrupting air traffic, he said. An early-warning radar in Jizan was hit directly by drone, and a military transport aircraft at Jizan airport was also targeted with what Saree described as a successful strike.

Sana’a-based outlets reported multiple explosions in Riyadh, with sources attributing them to drone strikes on targets in the capital.

The Monday operations are the latest implementation of the equation articulated by Saree and other Ansarullah officials: "blockade for blockade, and escalation for escalation."

Sana’a-based authorities declared a maritime ban on Saudi vessels in July, describing it as a response to the near-12-year Saudi-led blockade on Yemen.

Since then, Yemeni forces have forced multiple Saudi oil tankers to alter course and prevented dozens of other vessels from transiting, according to Sana’a-based reports.

A senior Ansarullah media official, Nasruddin Amer, has described Saudi Aramco as the "chief financier" of the war on Yemen and warned that continued aggression would expose Saudi economic interests, "foremost among them Vision 2030," to devastating retaliatory operations.

Ansarullah political bureau member Hizam al-Assad said that Sana’a has "many surprises" for Saudi Arabia if it persists with the "aggression and siege."

Bab el-Mandab is one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints, carrying a significant portion of global trade and oil transit between Asia and Europe.

Yemen's Foreign Ministry said Monday it has formally notified international bodies that Saudi air and missile strikes on the country have exceeded 3,830 since the latest escalation began, leaving 768 civilians killed and wounded, and condemned what it called the world's complicit silence in the face of these attacks.

The ministry said in notes sent to international institutions that the strikes, recorded up to Oct. 30, killed 232 civilians and wounded 536. Among the dead were 68 children and 35 women, while the wounded included 137 children and 72 women, the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry described the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure as a "clear and gross violation of international humanitarian law" and condemned the "silence and inaction" of the international community.

It said that silence constitutes a "moral and legal failure and a sign of double standards" in dealing with war crimes, and warned that the current approach effectively "paves the way for the continuation of these actions and encourages Saudi Arabia to repeat and intensify its attacks."

Saree said Sunday that Saudi forces had conducted 75 airstrikes and missile attacks across Sa’ada, Ta’izz, Amran, Ibb, Dhamar, Lahij, Hudaydah and al-Jawf provinces in the previous 24 hours.