SANA’A (Dispatches) – The spokesman for Yemen’s army and allied fighters from the Popular Committees says the country’s forces carried out two major operations against the Saudi-led coalition and their allied forces in 2021, liberating 12,000 square kilometers of land in five provinces.
In a statement carried by Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Sunday, Brigadier General Yahya Saree delivered a detailed report of military achievements made by the Yemeni army forces and their allied fighters from the Popular Committees against the invading Saudi-led military coalition in 2021.
He said that Yemeni forces managed to liberate 12,000 square kilometers in the Arab country’s provinces of Ma’rib, Jawf, Bayda, Hudaydah and Shabwah, adding that the engineering unit carried out 5,010 operations against the enemy’s forces, military bases and the vehicles.
Saree also noted that the artillery unit of the Yemeni army also carried out 21,925 operations against the enemy’s fortifications and gatherings.
The spokesman further said that the sniper unit of the Yemeni forces, for its part, conducted 13,191 operations in 2021.
The spokesman for Yemen’s army noted that during the course of last year, the Yemeni forces carried out 223 offensives against positions held by the Saudi-led coalition and 166 times they foiled the enemy’s infiltration attempts.
According to Saree, the Yemeni air defense unit carried out 1,025 operations against the enemy’s aerial incursions, forcing the invaders to retreat.
He also said that during the period, the air defense unit managed to shoot down 22 aircraft of the coalition, including six CH-4 spy drones, 12 U.S.-made Boeing Insitu ScanEagle spy drones, a U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper combat drone, and a Karial spy drone. Furthermore, the unit shot down two Emirati Wing Loong drones and 64 of their small surveillance drones.
Saree also reported that Yemen’s missile unit, for its part, carried out 440 operations, 340 of them against positions held by the enemy inside Yemen and the rest of which conducted against installations and facilities of the enemy outside Yemen, particularly inside Saudi Arabia.
According to the spokesman for Yemen’s army, Yemen’s drones carried out 4,497 surveillance as well as attack operations against enemy targets, both inside and outside Yemen.
Saree added that joint operations by the missile unit and the drone unit carried out deep in Saudi Arabia led to either killing or wounding 394 Saudi officers and troopers and 745 Sudanese mercenaries in 2021. He added that during the period, more than 24,000 homegrown mercenaries were also either killed or wounded.
The spokesman for Yemen’s army went on to say that in 2021, at least 1749 armored vehicles and personnel carriers of the Saudi-led coalition were damaged and the destruction of 253 types of ammunition and 39 arms depots.
Saree also said that the Saudi-led coalition last year conducted 7,100 airstrikes against the Yemeni nation, leaving scores of civilians either killed or injured. He noted that the strikes, particularly aimed at Ma’rib province, inflicted damage to the impoverished country’s infrastructure.