Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, launched significant strikes on Thursday targeting military camps in central Yemen belonging to the Emergency Forces, an anti-Houthi force recently created by Saudi Arabia that operates under the command of the Saudi military.
A military source within the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, whose leadership is based in Riyadh, told China’s Xinhua news agency that the Ansar Allah attacks targeted camps in the eastern Hadhramaut and Marib provinces and that at least 35 fighters were killed.
According to the Defense Line, a Yemeni military analysis site, the Emergency Forces adopted the name last year and consist of 35,000 fighters, mostly Salafis from northern Yemeni provinces, and they operate directly under the command of the Saudi Joint Forces.
In a statement on the attack, Ansar Allah described the Emergency Force camps as “Saudi enemy troops concentrations” and said that forces were being built up for an escalation against the “liberated provinces,” referring to Ansar Allah-controlled Yemen, which is where the majority of Yemenis live. The statement claimed that hundreds of “Saudi mercenaries” were killed and injured by the attacks.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces warn the criminal Saudi enemy against any act of aggression against our country and our people, and it will bear the consequences of any escalation,” the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces said. “We advise those misled and deceived among our people to leave the Saudi enemy camps and return to their homes before it is too late.”
The attack comes a day after Ansar Allah launched attacks on two Saudi oil tankers as part of its enforcement of a new blockade it imposed following Saudi airstrikes on the Sanaa International Airport, which Riyadh carried out to prevent the landing of a plane from Iran. The plane, which ended up landing in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, was carrying a Yemeni delegation that attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US and Saudi officials have claimed it was also carrying weapons and IRGC advisors.
Ansar Allah also targeted the Najran Airport in southern Saudi Arabia this week, which reportedly took out a radar and suspended services at the facility. According to a report from Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia has been pursuing diplomacy to contain the conflict in Yemen, which reignited after a four-year ceasefire due to the strikes on the Sanaa airport, but Riyadh is also preparing for a major military escalation, which could include a ground offensive, if diplomacy fails.
The Bloomberg report said that the US was advising against major military retaliation in response to the Ansar Allah blockade on Saudi ports over concerns that it could lead to the complete closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but President Trump did give Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the green light to escalate against the Houthis before the strikes on the Sanaa airport. Saudi Arabia’s military is highly reliant on US support, meaning MbS will want US backing before any further escalation.
