Yemeni forces say freed 12,000 sq km of land in 2021

In a statement carried by Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Massirah 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. He 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 added 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 stated that during the period, the air defense unit managed to shoot down 22 aircraft of the coalition, including six CH-4 spy drones, 12 US-made Boeing Insitu ScanEagle spy drones, a US-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, 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.

He added that Yemeni fighters, during the said period, carried out 194 offensives and 382 ambush operations, noting that the Yemeni army and its allied forces carried out the two major offensives of Operation Nasr al-Mobin in three phases and Operation Rabi’ al-Nasr in two phases.

In conclusion, Saree stated that the Yemeni army and its allied fighters from the Popular Committees will resolutely continue their fight until the full liberation of all parts of Yemen from the grips of the invading enemy.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies – including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – launched the brutal war on Yemen in March 2015. The campaign was launched to eliminate the popular Ansarullah movement and reinstall Yemen’s Riyadh-backed former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Ansarullah has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The war has also been carried out in collaboration with a number of Riyadh’s allied states and with arms and logistics support from the United States and several Western countries.

The brutal aggression, which is accompanied by a tight siege, has failed to reach its goals, but it has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people.
The UN says more than 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger. The world body also refers to the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.