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Yemen’s Ansar Allah is on the warpath and it seems that the Saudi-led coalition is incapable of stopping its advance.
As of October 18th, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) have taken control of large swathes of Ma’rib province, and are priming to, once again, try to take the strategic city.
Ansar Allah announced that their fighters had captured an area of 3,200 square kilometers in the central Yemeni provinces of Shabwah and Ma’rib, during an operation dubbed “Spring of Victory”.
The operation resulted in the killing, wounding and capture of hundreds of mercenaries involved in the aggression. The Houthi spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Sari claimed that among those were al-Qaeda and ISIS members.
Detailed information on the operation was promised in the upcoming days, with numbers of casualties and destroyed equipment. The Houthis usually boast greatly with all of their successes.
On the same day, the Saudi-led coalition boasted of its defensive capabilities. It claimed that it had intercepted and shot down two suicide drones which were launched from Yemen.
The two drones were most likely shot down within Yemeni airspace by fighter jets of the Royal Saudi Air Force with air-to-air missiles.
Additionally, the Saudi-led coalition said that its warplanes carried out 41 airstrikes on Houthi forces in the district of al-Abdiyah in the central Yemeni province of Ma’rib.
The coalition claimed that 165 Houthi fighters were killed and ten military vehicles were destroyed in the airstrikes. These numbers were not verified by any independent side.
Just days earlier, on October 12th, the Houthis announced another successful operation dubbed “Dawn of Victory”.
According to the accompanying statement, throughout the operation, 1,300 Saudi-backed fighters were killed, 4,320 were wounded and 30 were captured by Houthi fighters.
During the operation, the Houthis’ air-defenses opened fire at Saudi-led coalition and US drones and warplanes 518 times and managed to shoot down a total of 17 drones.
The Yemeni group’s missile force carried out 49 attacks on targets inside Yemen and on 19 targets outside the country’s border. From its side, the drone force carried out 170 attacks on targets outside Yemen and 75 attacks on targets within the country.
The Saudi-led coalition carried out nearly 1,000 airstrikes in an attempt to impede the operation, but it failed. It is likely that numbers of the most recent operations are comparable, and it stands to show that Riyadh’s forces are incapable of mounting any form of adequate offense and defense.
The Houthis have been advancing towards Ma’rib city for more than seven months now. These two most recent operations are some of the most significant successes, as it isn’t a short-term gain that could potentially be quickly be lost if the Saudi-led coalition pushes back.
It appears that these two operations are the result of steady advances and tactical battlefield successes that could potentially be lasting and allow for Ansar Allah to push for Ma’rib city in the coming weeks.
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