Yemeni forces take control of key positions on border with Saudi Arabia

Yemeni army and allied fighters from Popular Committees have made fresh gains, taking control of key positions in the northeastern province of Jawf on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network reported on Wednesday that the Yemeni forces took control of a number of positions in the strategic Qash’an mountains and Salbah Valley in Jawf’s Khabb wa ash Sha'af district on the border with Saudi Arabia’s Najran region.

The Qash’an mountain range is strategically important as it overlooks the area of Alyutamah, the administrative center of Khabb wa ash Sha'af district, and al-Ajasher desert which extends between Yemen’s Jawf and Saudi Arabia’s Najran.

The fresh military success scored by Yemeni forces took place despite intensified Saudi airstrikes.

Separately, fierce fighting between the Yemeni forces and militants loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and militants from al-Qaeda-linked Islah party, is underway in the area in Wadi Abidah district, southeastern of Ma’rib City. According to al-Mayadeen, the Saudi warplanes conducted 18 air raids in support of the pro-Hadi militants and militants from Islah party in an attempt to hinder the advance of the Yemeni forces on the battlefront.

Last week, field sources told al-Mayadeen that the Yemeni fighters took control of al-Balq al-Sharqiyah mountain range, which is located near Ma’rib City.

Ma’rib, which is located right in the middle of a whole host of other Yemeni provinces, has turned into a focus of the Yemeni army’s liberation operations since last year.

The province’s recapture, towards which many advancements have been made so far, is expected to pave the way for further military victories for Yemen’s armed forces.

Envoy: Mar’rib liberation to change course of Yemen war like Syria's Aleppo

Yemen

Meanwhile, al-Masirah said Saudi fighter jets carried out an airstrike on Maqbanah district in Ta’izz Province on Wednesday.

According to preliminary reports, the aerial attack left two Yemenis, including a child, dead, and three other civilians wounded.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Yemen’s former president Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

Despite heavily-armed Saudi Arabia’s continuous bombardment of the impoverished country, Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.

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