Five civilians were killed and three wounded on Wednesday in a coalition air strike in the province of Hajjah, northwest of Yemen. "The air strike targeted the house of Hussain Qasim al-Hamli in the al-Aati area north of the town of Hiran in the province of Hajjah, and left these victims," the correspondent of Yemen Monitor said.
Meanwhile in the province of Marib, local media reports said on Wednesday that an Al Houthi field commander was killed by an air strike in the district of Serwah, Al Houthi’s last urban bastion in the province.
Al Masdar Online, an independent news site, said that Esmail Mohammad Al Sha’abani, also known as Abu Jihad, the commander of Serwah front, suffered critical injuries from the air strike and died at a government-run hospital in Sana’a.
Al Sha’abani took charge of Serwah front in June after the death of Hussain Al Saqqaf in clashes with government forces. In the northern province of Hajjah, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that the Al Houthi commander of Medi city, Mohammad Esmail Al Medani, was critically injured by an air strike. Dozens of other Al Houthi fighters were killed or injured in a wave of heavy airstrikes against their positions in the same city.
On the political side, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr said that the Yemeni army, supported by the coalition forces, “currently controls 85 percent of the territories and heads towards achieving greater victory”, stressing that the “Decisive Storm”, led by Saudi Arabia, has thwarted Iran’s projects in the Arab region.
He also commended the great support provided to the Yemeni people by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
His comments came during his meeting in Aden with the Commander of the Arab Coalition Forces Brig. Gen. Ahmed Abu Majid, the Commander of the Saudi Forces Brigadier General Abdul Aziz Islam, the Commander of the Bahraini and Sudanese Forces Major Hisham Al-Mubarak, and a number of officers of the Arab Coalition Forces.
Bin Daghr praised major sacrifices offered by the Yemeni army and popular resistance to face Houthi and Ali Abdullah Saleh militias, promising that victory was imminent.
The Yemeni prime minister pointed out to the support provided by Saudi Arabia, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the UAE, under the leadership of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed and the leaders of the State of Kuwait for their support to the Yemeni people through the King Salman Relief Center, the UAE Red Crescent, the Kuwait Relief Committee and “all those who helped Yemen in these difficult circumstances”.
For his part, the commander of the Arab Coalition Forces reiterated UAE’s position in support of Yemen’s unity and stability, while the commander of the Saudi Forces confirmed the Kingdom’s backing of Yemen’s legitimacy and security.
The meeting tackled a number of important issues on the military and economic levels, and discussed the joint action to face Houthis and terrorist organizations and the means to consolidate security and stability in the liberated provinces.