SANA’A (Dispatches) – The Yemeni army has carried out a fresh drone strike on a major airbase in southern Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the Riyadh regime’s ongoing bombardment campaign and blockade against the conflict-stricken Arab country.
Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said army troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees had hit sensitive targets inside King Khalid airbase near the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, located some 884 kilometers (549 miles) south of the Saudi capital Riyadh, on Monday.
Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network cited Saree as saying that the retaliatory attack was launched using a domestically-manufactured Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat drone.
Saree stressed that the “pinpoint” attack came in response to the continuing aggression and brutal siege on his country.
The development came only a day after Yemeni armed forces and their allies struck the same air base by a Qasef-2K unmanned aerial vehicle.
Later on Monday, a civilian was killed in an artillery attack by Saudi military forces in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a Riyadh-backed former regime and eliminate Ansarullah.
The Saudi-led coalition has, however, achieved none of its goals thanks to stiff resistance by the Ansarullah-led Yemeni army.
The aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and plunged Yemen into what the UN says the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi lashed out at the United Nations for its “weak” response to the humanitarian situation in the impoverished country.
In a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths on Sunday, al-Houthi referred to the UN role towards the unjust and unjustifiable siege imposed by the U.S.-Saudi coalition against Yemen that prevents the import of food, medicine and fuel.
“The blockade is a collective punishment and a procedure that violates international decisions and humanitarian norms and contradicts all laws,” he said.
He criticized the UN for using the humanitarian situation as a tool to blackmail and pressure the Yemeni people, al-Masirah reported.
Houthi stressed that the siege is a collective punishment and a measure that violates international resolutions and humanitarian norms, and is contrary to all laws and regulations.
He urged the UN to take action to provide access to basic needs for the Yemenis, stressing that addressing the humanitarian issue is “the actual entrance to all files”.