In an interview with Al Arabiya General Manager Turki Aldakhil this week, General Ahmed Asiri, the spokesman for Arab coalition forces fighting in support of the legitimate government in Yemen, revealed the existence of an “Iranian plot to strike the security and stability of Saudi Arabia.”

"Within six months, the government regained 45 percent of Yemeni territory," Asiri said, tallying the timeline of the coalition’s achievements.

Twelve months after the start of Operation Decisive Storm, 65 percent of Yemeni territory became under the control of the legitimate government. Eighteen months later, the number grew to 75 percent, he added.

Today, the Yemeni army today is less than 14 km from Sanaa airport, Asiri said, adding that the Yemeni army’s artillery has reached many areas within the Houthi-held capital, and about 85 percent of the land in Sanaa is not ruled by the rebels.

The retreat of al-Qaeda

While some claim that the operations of the coalition forces enhanced al-Qaeda’s influence on the territory of Yemen, Asiri said that Mukalla, a seaport and the capital city of Yemen's Hadramawt governorate, had been freed from the reign of al-Qaeda and is under the control of the legitimate government.

The terrorist group had named Mukalla as their headquarters, and the capital of their al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen after storming a central prison in 2015.

Asiri said that al-Qaeda has lost more than 800 elements, including leaders and others who were arrested and extradited to Saudi Arabia.

Protection of the Saudi border

Asiri presented in his interview a number of statistics, indicating that the number of the cross-border infiltrators before the Operation Decisive Storm was recorded at around 18,651 infiltrators per month. The number has dropped by 86 percent, amounting to around 2,619 infiltrators per month.

Around 537 arms were smuggled per month before the military intervention. This has decreased by 40 percent to 324 arms per month, Asiri said.

Meanwhile, drug traffickers had smuggled an average of 23206kg per month; the number has now shrunk by 75 percent to 5590kg.

Regarding the bombing of the towns and villages on the Saudi border, between 20 and 500 shells were launched by the militias on a daily basis at beginning of the Operation Decisive Storm. This has declined to 40-60 a day, a decrease of 85%.

Houthi attacks on border controls were carried out at a rate of six to 10 operations per month at the beginning of the operation; it is now down by 90 percent, with around one operation recorded per month.

source: Alarabiya