Saudi Arabia & allies strongly retaliate against Houthi targets; senior Houth

Riyadh/Sana: – The militaries of Saudi Arabia and its allies launched fierce attacks on the locations of the Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday morning. All the details of the losses suffered by the Houthi rebels in the attack have not been revealed. But the organisation announced that their fourth-ranked leader, Zakaria al-Shami, had died. But it is not clear whether he was killed in the attacks of Saudi Arabia and its allies or otherwise.

For the last few days, the Houthi rebels are carrying out attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Houthi rebels have carried out the rocket, ballistic missile and drone attacks on oil projects, military bases, and even civilian settlements in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council had appealed for action against the Houthi rebels. But the Houthi rebels, growing in confidence following the Biden administration’s decision to remove them from the list of terrorist organisations, continued with the attacks.

On Saturday, the Houthi rebels claimed to have launched an attack on the Abha international airport. The losses caused by the attack have not been revealed. But this is the third attack carried out by the Houthi rebels on the concerned airport. Simultaneously, a news channel in Qatar reported that the Houthi rebels also launched an attack on the Khamis Mushait city. After this, on Sunday, Saudi Arabia and its allies launched fierce attacks on the locations of the Houthi rebels in Sana, the capital of Yemen.

The media claimed that the Houthi rebels suffered massive losses in this action taken by Saudi Arabia and its allies. Amid these claims, the Houthi rebels announced the death of their fourth-ranked leader Zakaria al-Shami. The Houthi organisation avoided announcing the time and place of his death. The Saudi Arabian government had announced a prize of USD 20 million for the head of Zakaria. Zakaria was responsible for planning terror attacks on the Houthi rebels. The Saudi Arabian media claim that his death comes as a major jolt for the organisation.

In the 1990s, Hussein al-Houthi, a leader in Yemen, formed the organisation Ansar Allah to fight for the Zaidi community’s rights. This organisation had its influence in the mountainous region in northern Yemen. The organisation started arming the youth influenced by the ideology, against the Yemen government, like the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In 2003, following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Hussein al-Houthi announced an armed rebellion against the United States. After Hussein al-Houthi was killed in the Yemen military’s action in the following year, the organisation Ansar Allah came to be known as the Houthi organisation. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is the leader of the organisation.