SANA’A (Dispatches) – More than 50 high-ranking Saudi-backed militant commanders loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have reportedly been killed this month while fighting Yemeni army troops and their allies over the control of the country’s strategic oil-producing province of Ma’rib.
Yemen’s al-Khabar al-Yemeni news website, citing informed sources who preferred not to be named, reported that Ma’rib province has witnessed intense clashes between Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees on one side and Saudi-backed militants on the other over the past few weeks.
The report added that the Yemeni forces and their allies are slowly but steadily making progress, due to the geographical features of the region and heavy deployment of troops and military equipment by the Saudi-led coalition.
The sources highlighted that Ma’rib, al-Thaqba and al-Aswadah districts are now the scenes of pro-Hadi commanders getting killed one after another, and now fear and anxiety have increased among Saudi mercenaries as the Yemeni armed forces have launched fierce battles against them.
Al-Khabar al-Yemeni also said that intelligence forces of the Sana’a government have managed to infiltrate into the military and security circles of Saudi-backed Hadi loyalists, monitor all movements of commanders and obtain sensitive information out of their meetings.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni army says its air defenses have shot down a U.S.-built drone on a spying mission in the airspace of Ma’rib.
“Our air defenses were able to shoot down an American-made ScanEagle spy plane, while it was carrying out hostile acts a while ago in the airspace of Wadi Ubaidah area in Ma’rib Province,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesman of the armed forces, said on Thursday.
General Saree said a “suitable weapon” was used during the operation, without specifying its type, Yemen’s al-Masirah TV reported.
He also affirmed that the Yemeni armed forces would “spare no effort to protect Yemeni airspace as long as the aggression and siege continue.”
The Yemeni military has also downed several CH-4 combat drones in recent months, the latest of which occurred on Monday.
On Wednesday, a number of Yemeni civilians were killed and injured as the Saudi-led military campaign continued its attacks on Yemen.
At least two civilians, including a child, were killed and three others injured as a result of the war coalition’s airstrike in Magbanah district in Taiz Province.