Over a dozen political factions in Yemen have thrown their weight behind the Houthi Ansarullah movement’s efforts to defend their homeland in the face of the ongoing Saudi military campaign as well as terrorist operations inside the country.
In a statement released on Monday, 16 Yemeni parties expressed their full support for Ansarullah’s leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, calling on the movement to explore “strategic options” to counter the brutal Saudi military aggression against Yemen.
They also voiced support for the Yemeni army troops and fighters from allied Popular Committees who are engaged, alongside the Houthis, in heavy battles with al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists and militants loyal to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] People gather following a Saudi airstrike on the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on July 20, 2015. (© AFP)[/caption]
The statement came on the same day as Saudi warplanes carried out three airstrikes against al-Mesaimeer district in Yemen’s southwestern province of Lahij.
Moreover, Saudi jets pounded residential neighborhoods in the al-Matammah district of the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf, located approximately 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of Sana’a.
Artillery rounds and mortar shells fired by Saudi forces also rained down on al-Ma’amil, Jabal al-Ahmar and Wadi al-Jarah districts in Yemen’s northern provinces of Hajjaah and Sa’ada.
However, there were no immediate reports of casualties in the Saudi air raids.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"] The Yemeni supporters of the Houthi Ansarullah movement during a rally in the capital, Sana’a, against Saudi airstrikes, July 24, 2015 (© AFP)[/caption]
Additionally, Yemeni army troopers backed by fighters from Popular Committees launched 22 rockets against al-Radif and al-Khojarah military bases in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern region of Jizan.
Saudi casualties
Meanwhile, five Saudi citizens sustained injuries when mortar shells fired by Yemeni soldiers and allied forces in retaliatory attacks struck al-Tawal and al-Khobe districts in the kingdom’s Jizan region.
Mohammad bin Hassan al-Samghan, the acting civil defense spokesman for Jazan region, confirmed the casualties.
The Saudi aggression against Yemen started on March 26 – without a UN mandate – in a bid to undermine the Ansarullah movement and to restore power to Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said earlier this month that at least 1,693 civilians had been killed and 3,829 others injured in the Arab country since March 26.
However, local sources have a given a much higher number of fatalities, with some of them putting the death toll at more than 4,500.
By Press TV