Three Saudi Military Brigades destroyed by Yemeni forces, soldiers captured: Media Report
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ISLAMABAD - Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they captured many Saudi soldiers and officers in a large operation near the border between the two countries on Saturday, shortly after the kingdom agreed to a limited ceasefire with the Iranian-backed group.
If true, the escalation will likely deal a blow to efforts to end a war that’s killed thousands and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. Saudi Arabia mobilized a military coalition in 2015 to back Yemen’s internationally-recognized government against the Shiite rebels, Bloomberg has reported.
The Houthis, in a statement carried by the Saba news agency, said they destroyed three enemy brigades after “just 72 hours of the operation.”
Thousands of people have been taken prisoners, including “many Saudi commanders, officers and soldiers.” A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The announcement comes almost two weeks after the Houthis took credit for the devastating attack on key Saudi Aramco oil facilities that briefly halved the country’s output and rattled global markets this month. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the attack, which they said wasn’t launched from Yemen.
Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the Houthi-controlled forces, said those captured would be paraded on the group’s TV network on Sunday, the BBC reported.
