Four high-ranking commanders of militiamen supporting Yemen’s former Saudi-backed former government have reportedly defected and joined the Yemeni army and their allied Popular Committees, which continue to make decisive gains in the battle against the Riyadh-led aggression.
Officials from Yemen’s National Salvation Government received the quartet during a ceremony in the capital Sana’a on Saturday, according to Yemen Press Agency (YPA).
The report added that the group included two colonels and as many captains.
The former militia commanders praised the position of the Sana’a-based administration and their efforts to accommodate returnees.
They called on Yemeni militiamen to take advantage of the reconciliation opportunity offered by authorities from Yemen’s National Salvation Government to leave the ranks of the Saudi-led coalition, and serve the nation instead.
Separately, Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported more air attacks on the war-torn country on Saturday evening, saying Saudi jets repeatedly bombarded different sites in the county’s northern provinces of Hajjah and Sa’ada.
Fighter jets from the Royal Saudi Air Force launched 16 airstrikes on the Harad district in Hajjah province, as well as four raids on the Razih and Kitaf wa Al Boqe’e districts in the mountainous Sa’ada province.
There were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led military coalition’s soldiers and their mercenaries have breached a truce deal for the western coastal province of Hudaydah 290 times in the last 24 hours.
Citing an unnamed source in Yemen’s Liaison and Coordination Officers Operations Room, al-Masirah TV reported that the violations included reconnaissance flights over al-Jabaliyah and Hays districts, 84 counts of artillery bombardment, and 186 shooting incidents.