On November 5, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced that they had attacked several targets in central, western and southern Saudi Arabia as a part of a large-scale operation.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Yemeni group, revealed in a statement that a total of 14 suicide drones were launched in the course of the operation that was codenamed “Deterrent Balance 8”.
According to the spokesman’s statement:
- King Khalid International Airport near the Saudi capital Riyadh in the Kingdom’s central region was targeted with four Samad-3 suicide drones.
- King Abdulaziz International Airport in the city of Jeddah and a number of nearby oil refineries of Aramco in the western Saudi province of Mecca were targeted with four Samad-2 suicide drones.
- An unidentified military target in Abha International Airport in the southern Saudi province of ‘Asir was targeted with a Samad-3 drone.
- Several military targets in ‘Asir and the nearby provinces of Jizan and Najran were targeted with five Qasef-2K suicide drones.
Brig. Gen. Sari stressed that the Houthis can and will carry out more large attacks in order to protect Yemen and its people.
“The armed forces, with the help of God Almighty, will face escalation with escalation until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted, and God is a witness to what we say,” the spokesman said in his statement.
Two days earlier, the Houthis warned Saudi Arabia that it will face “serious consequences” as a result of its recent internes airstrikes on Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition played down the Houthis’ large-scale operation, claiming that three of suicide drones were shot down and that the group failed to launch two ballistic missiles. These claims are yet to be verified.
In response to the operation, Saudi-led coalition warplanes destroyed 13 targets of the Houthis in different parts of Yemen. According to the coalition’s claims, the targets included weapons depots, air-defense systems, communication systems and drones’ equipment.
Operation Deterrent Balance 8 is the most recent in a series of large-scale missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 1 targeted the Shaybah super-giant oil field in southeast Saudi Arabia on 17 August 2019.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 2 targeted two strategic oil facilities in the eastern Saudi areas of Buqayq and Khurais on 14 September 2019.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 3 targeted an oil facility of Aramco as well as sensitive targets in the western Saudi city of Yanbu on 21 February 2020.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 4 targeted the headquarters of the Saudi Defense Ministry, intelligence facilities, King Salman Air Base and other positions in Riyadh as well as in Jizan and Najran on 23 June 2020.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 5 targeted military sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as well as in the Kingdom’s southern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait on 28 February 2021.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 6 targeted Ras Tanura oil port and an unspecified target in the nearby city of Dammam as well as several targets in both Jizan and ‘Asir on 7 March 2021.
- Operation Deterrent Balance 7 targeted oil facilities of Aramco at Ras Tanura port, the western Saudi province of Makkah as well as in Jizan and Najran on 5 September 2021.
As suggested by their codename, these large-scale operations are meant to deter the Saudi-led coalition and pressure the Kingdom into ending its war on Yemen.
Army Spox: Yemeni Army Drones Hit Saudi Arabia’s King Khaled Airbase, Aramco Refinery
The Yemeni army has launched a large-scale military operation inside Saudi Arabia, hitting the Arab kingdom’s Khaled airbase and Aramco refinery, in retaliation for a years-long brutal war by the Saudi-led coalition against impoverished Yemen.
In a statement carried by Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on Saturday, spokesman of Yemen’s Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced the successful implementation of the “Eighth Deterrence Balance Operation” by bombing a number of military and vital targets inside Saudi Arabia, using 14 domestically-developed combat drones.
He said four Sammad-3 [Invincible-3] drones bombed the King Khaled airbase near capital Riyadh, adding that four Sammad-2 [Invincible-2] drones also bombed military targets at King Abdullah International Airport in Jeddah and Aramco Jeddah refineries.
Separately, military targets at Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern province of Asir were bombarded by Sammad-3 drone and five Qasef-2K [Striker-2K] drones bombed various military targets in Abha, Jizan and Najran provinces.
Yemen’s “armed forces affirm their ability to carry out more offensive operations against Saudi and Emirati enemies within the framework of the legitimate defense of Yemeni nation and homeland,” General Saree further said.
He also stressed that the Yemeni “armed forces, with the help of God Almighty, will face escalation with escalation until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted.”
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 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.
Saudi Arabia is being targeted by the Yemeni army and its allied popular forces continuously, with the Sanaa government saying that it will keep hitting targets deep inside the Arab kingdom as long as the war and siege continue.
- Yemeni Forces Strike Riyadh, Jeddah, Abha, Jizan & Najran with 14 Explosive Drones
- Operation Deterrent Balance 8: Houthis Attack Saudi Arabia With 14 Suicide Drones
- Houthis Says Intense Airstrikes On Yemen Will Have ‘Serious Consequences’ On Saudi Arabia
- UN Deplores Execution of 10 Prisoners by Saudi Mercenaries in Yemen
- WHO: 75% of Yemen’s Children Chronically Malnourished
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