The Yemeni Armed Forces launched a retaliatory operation that targeted the Saudi and Emirati depths in the early hours of Monday.

“The Rocketry Force and the Propelled Air Force carried out a wide-scale retaliatory operation in response to the American-Saudi-Emirati crimes against the Yemeni people. Today’s strike, dubbed ‘Operation Hurricane Yemen 2’, targeted the Saudi and Emirati depths,” said Yehya Saree, Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman.

“The al-Dhafra military airbase and other sensitive targets were hit in the Emirati enemy’s capital, Abu Dhabi, using several Zolfiqar ballistic missiles. Additionally, vital and important targets in Dubai were hit using several Sammad-3 drones,” the spokesman confirmed.

“Several military bases in the Saudi depth, particularly in Sharoura area and several areas, were targeted using several Sammad-1 and Qasef-2k drones; while vital and sensitive sites in Jizan and Assir were targeted using several ballistic missiles, scoring precise achievements,” he added.

The Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen was launched by Saudi Arabia on 26 March 2015, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa.

The intervention received widespread criticism and had a dramatic worsening effect on Yemen's humanitarian situation, which reached the level of a “humanitarian disaster” or “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Various human rights organizations have accused Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, of human rights violations and some have gone as far as accusing the coalition of war crimes. The majority of these accusations stem from airstrikes undertaken by the coalition, but others, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, have also criticized the coalition's approach to blockades. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said that the deliberate starvation of civilians in both international and internal armed conflict may constitute a war crime, and could also constitute a crime against humanity in the event of deliberate denial of food and also the deprivation of food sources or supplies.

A 2019 United Nations report said the US, UK, and France may be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons and providing other support to the Saudi-led coalition which is using the deliberate starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.

The Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign has so far killed or injured an estimated 18,588 civilians as of May 2021 according to the Yemen Data Project. (ILKHA)