Yemeni Ballistic Missile Hits Saudi Mercenaries’ Base in Ta’izz

Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have hit a military base in Yemen’s southern province of Ta’izz with a domestically-manufactured high-precision ballistic missile as Saudi Arabia presses ahead with a campaign of military aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor.

Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, citing an unnamed military official from the missile unit of the Yemeni army, reported that Khalid military base, located in the western flank of the province, had been hit with a short-range and solid-propellant Badr P-1 missile on Sunday.

It added that the projectile had struck the designated target with precision, leaving an unspecified number of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi either killed or wounded. The explosion also inflicted damage to the hardware and equipment of the base.

Over dozen civilians injured as Saudi mercenaries shell Hudaydah

Separately, more than a dozen civilians have been injured after Saudi mercenaries lobbed a barrage of mortar shells at residential areas in the Hali and Hawak districts of the western Yemeni province of Hudaydah.
A provincial security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the shells left at least 14 people injured, adding that some of the injured are in a critical condition.

The development took place irrespective of a UN-brokered ceasefire in Hudaydah.

The United Nations said on December 17, 2018 that a ceasefire had taken effect in Hudaydah, located 150 kilometers southwest of the capital Sana’a, at 3:00 a.m. local time (2400 GMT).

The truce was agreed at the UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden last month.

The two warring sides welcomed the ceasefire in Hudaydah, and said they would comply with it.

The truce was supposed to be followed by the withdrawal of Houthi fighters as well as pro-Hadi militiamen.

A prisoner swap, involving some 15,000 detainees, was also planned and a “mutual understanding” to facilitate aid deliveries to the southwestern coastal city of Ta’izz has been reached.

Delegates from the Ansarullah movement and Saudi-backed Hadi loyalists have also agreed to meet again in late January for more talks to define the framework for negotiations on a comprehensive peace settlement.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

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