Houthi Official:

Saudi Arabia Now an Easy Target

Date: 29 September 2019 - 22:47

News ID: ۷۱۱۰۰

SANAA (Dispatches) -- Saudi Arabia has now become an easy target for Yemeni strikes, a Houthi official said Sunday, adding that a large-scale operation that inflicted heavy losses on the Saudi forces in Najran changed the equation.
The massive military operation, codenamed God's Victory, destroyed several Saudi-led brigades and marked the largest operation by Yemeni forces over the past five years.
"The operation altered the equation of power in this war in favor of Yemen,” Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the political bureau of Ansarullah, said.
The successful operation, he said, was a result of the advances in Yemen’s missile, aerial and air defense capabilities that were reflected in the battlefield.
"Saudi Arabia has now turned into an easy target for the Yemeni army,” he stated.
The Houthi official said the Yemeni forces fully encircled and destroyed three Saudi military brigades in the operation and seized all of their military equipment.
Bukhaiti said the three doomed brigades were among the major military units that were under direct command of Saudi Arabia, noting that the brigades were mostly made up of Takfiri and extremist fighters.
Describing the Yemeni operation as the second heavy blow to Saudi Arabia after the September 14 attack on the Aramco oil installations, Bukhaiti warned that a third major operation could be carried out against the kingdom.
He said if the Saudi authorities turn down an offer for truce, proposed by President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat, Yemeni missile and aerial strikes on targets deep inside the Saudi territories will continue and even increase.
"Moreover, such attacks will target more vital and critical facilities of Saudis,” Bukhaiti warned.
Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Yemeni forces have gained such great deterrent power that they have paralyzed the Saudi invaders.
Addressing a conference in Semnan Sunday, Fadavi hailed the people of Yemen for standing against foreign pressures and attacks from the arrogant powers.
"At present, Yemen is in the deterrence stage, and this has paralyzed Al Saud,” the general said.
Yemen will display its power more clearly in future despite all pressures, he stated, adding that the axis of resistance is growing in the region.
The IRGC general also said the Yemeni forces came to know about the missile technology after the Saudi-led invasion, and managed to give a "crushing response to Al Saud’s stupidity.”
"Yemen’s deterrent power in the face of enemies has become clear after the reactions to Al Saud’s attacks, and the enemies are also mindful that they will be harmed if they take any action against that country (Yemen),” Fadavi went on to say.
Yemen broadcast footage on Sunday that it said showed a major attack near the border with Saudi Arabia’s southern region of Najran, adding that its forces had captured troops and vehicles.
Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition that has been waging a war on Yemen, has not responded to Saturday’s announcement of the attack.
Al-Masirah TV broadcast images of armored vehicles hit by blasts and what the Houthis said were dozens of surrendering fighters. Two of those men, speaking to the camera, said they were from Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi military spokesman said the offensive 72 hours earlier had defeated three "enemy military brigades”, leading to the capture of "thousands” of enemy troops, including Saudi army officers and soldiers, and hundreds of armored vehicles.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore a former government to power and crush the Houthi movement.
A UN-brokered prisoner swap deal agreed between the Houthis and the Saudi side last December involving some 7,000 detainees on each side has yet to happen.
The Houthis, who had recently stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities, have claimed responsibility for the largest-ever attack on Saudi oil facilities on Sept. 14.
The Houthis said on Sept. 20 they would halt missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia if the alliance stopped its operations. The kingdom has not responded to the proposal.