US Intensifies Airstrikes on Yemen Amid Reports of Planned Ground Invasion

By Staff, Agencies

The United States has carried out a fresh wave of airstrikes across multiple regions in Yemen, targeting various sites and infrastructure in the Arab country in the latest acts of aggression.

Yemen's official Saba news agency, citing local sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that a US airstrike hit Mayfa'at 'Anss district in the southwestern province of Dhamar early on Wednesday. No casualties were reported.

Earlier, American fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes on Harf Sufyan district in the northwestern province of ‘Amran, with no immediate reports of martyrs or damage.

Al Salem district in the northwestern province of Sa'ada was also hit by six airstrikes, while Kitaf wa al-Boqe'e district underwent four aerial raids. At least three airstrikes were also reported east of Sa’ada city. No immediate reports about possible martyrs and the extent of the destruction have been released.

As per Yemeni media outlets, an airstrike hit the Az Zahir district of the central province of al-Bayda as well, while Kamaran Island in the Red Sea saw the heaviest bombardment, with at least 15 airstrikes.

The reports did not specify casualties or the extent of infrastructure damage resulting from the bombardments.

Meanwhile, militants backed by the United Arab Emirates are reportedly planning a ground offensive to take the strategic port city of Hodeida from Yemeni Armed Forces and fighters from the Ansarullah resistance movement.

“Private American security contractors provided advice to the Yemeni factions on a potential ground operation, people involved in the planning said. The UAE, which supports these factions, raised the plan with American officials in recent weeks,” the Wall Street Journal [WSJ] reported on Tuesday.

The ground offensive seeks to take advantage of the recent US bombing campaign targeting military sites and infrastructure of the YAF.

US officials speaking with the newspaper said Washington has launched more than 350 strikes during its current campaign against Yemen and claimed that the YAF has been weakened as a result.

According to pro-UAE Yemeni sources, under the plan being discussed, factions of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council [STC] would deploy their forces north to the western Yemeni coast and try to seize the Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

If successful, the ground offensive would push the YAF back from large parts of the coast from where they have launched attacks on "Israeli"-linked ships transiting the Red Sea.

The WSJ warned, “A major ground offensive risks reigniting a Yemeni civil war that has been dormant for years and that spurred a humanitarian crisis when a Saudi–Emirati coalition supported local ground forces with a bombing campaign."