Pro-Iranian rebels hit with missiles and drones the largest military base in the country which is located in the province of Lahj, 60 kilometers from Aden
The Houthi rebels of Yemen have carried out a new massacre, despite repeated calls by the international community for a ceasefire, following the peace proposal put forward by Saudi Arabia. According to reports from the al-Arabiya television station, there are at least 30 soldiers dead and 60 wounded among the forces of the regular army. The attack, launched with three bomb drones and two ballistic missiles, struck this morning (August 29, ed), a military base in the province of Lahj, 60 kilometers north of Aden. This is the famous Al-Anad base, the largest in the country, known for hosting the Al-Umalaqa (Giants) Force.
A local source contacted by Formiche.net reported that the raid hit the base while the soldiers’ morning roll call was underway. Photos and videos disseminated on social media showed many bloody victims in military and civilian clothes carried in the wards and emergency medical units of the camp.
The raid by the pro-Iranian group took place just as the training of the soldiers of this formation loyal to the president’s government was taking place Abde Rabbo Mansur Hadi. This base had already been targeted once, in early 2019, by an Iranian-made drone, during a military parade, which at the time led to the killing of six members of the Yemeni army and the wounding of others. 20. Major General Saleh Al-Zindani, deputy chief of staff of the Yemeni army, had died at the time from injuries sustained in that attack.
Considered one of the historic military airbases founded by the British in Yemen, Al-Anad is located north of the city of Al-Houta, the capital of Lahj. It also includes an airstrip, weapons depots and a building for pilots’ accommodation, as well as a field for the infantry and another for the armed forces. In addition, this base, which stretches from north to south for a length of 20 kilometers, includes a training ground and workshops for the maintenance of warplanes and heavy military equipment. The United States had used it in the past as a starting point for launching drones that hunted down Al-Qaeda men in Yemen.
The attack is believed to have been launched from Houthi positions in the Al-Hawban area, northeast of Taiz. The injured were taken to emergency medical facilities in Lahj and Aden hospitals, aboard ambulances and military trucks. In the past, the Shia formation has already carried out similar attacks such as the one that targeted a training camp in the Al-Wadiah region, north of Hadramout, in mid-June this year.
The leaders of the Yemeni army believe that this attack is a clear message from the rebels to the international community on the unwillingness to adhere to the Saudi and United Nations peace plan. In fact, a symbolic military base was hit, explained by Aden, which is important not only for the ground forces but also for the Yemeni aviation and navy.
Today’s attack comes as news circulates in Yemen of a breakthrough in Saudi and international mediation that would lead to the return of members of the Yemeni government to the nearby city of Aden, declared the country’s interim capital, and a week before the new envoy of the United Nations, Hans Grundberg, you begin your mandate to revive the stalemate in the political process in the country.
The Houthi massacre also takes place a few hours after the appeal launched by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, for a ceasefire in Yemen and less than 24 hours after the Conference for Cooperation and Partnership organized yesterday in Baghdad by the Iraqi government in the presence of Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Kuwait invited by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Khadimi, with the help of France’s Emmanuel Macron, visiting the Iraqi capital.