10 thousand dead and wounded and "zero" sites ... the complete harvest of the defeats of legitimacy in Nehm
English - Wednesday 04 November 2020 الساعة 04:20 pm
Sanaa, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
In the past months, the army forces affiliated with the government of the interim president (Hadi) have suffered resounding failures, as they suffered major military setbacks in "Nehm" east of Sanaa, and the governorates of Al-Jawf and Marib, after attacks of a strategic nature by the Houthis.
The Brotherhood’s hegemony over the legitimate forces, as well as the higher leadership’s orientation, is the key to the heavy defeats it suffered in the Nehm front, east of the capital, Sana'a, which later expanded to Al-Jawf and Marib governorates.
At the end of last February, the Houthis seized large areas of Al-Jawf, adjacent to Marib in the north of the country, including the city of Al-Hazm, the governorate center, to the strategic camp of Al-Labanat.
And before that, specifically in January of this year, the positions of the legitimate forces in the Nehm area, east of Sanaa, collapsed in the hands of the Houthi militia, after the former had kept most of it since 2015.
In the context of statements made by the Minister of Defense in the legitimate government, Major General Muhammad al-Maqdashi, claiming that his forces are now overlooking the capital, Sanaa, the Houthi militia launched a major attack on the strategic Jabal Al-Manara, which overlooks the Arhab district from multiple sides.
After a week of confrontations between the two sides, the legitimate forces collapsed, and the Ministry of Defense issued directives to the fighters to withdraw from the mountain, to be seized by the Houthi militia.
The legitimate forces had taken control of Jabal al-Manara, after preparations that took eight months, including the construction of a road for the passage of military equipment, as it lost nearly 200 dead and more than 500 wounded, according to multiple military sources that spoke to "NewsYemen".
However, it abruptly abandoned the "Al-Manara" mountain range, which has a decisive military location, as the forces of the Third Military Region retreated to the "Al-Jufra" area, and the Houthi militia advanced rapidly and took control of strategic locations in center and the right part the front and near the Naqeel of "Bin Ghailan" and district center “Al-Madeed”, and also the mountains overlooking the Arhab district, which are the Qutbi Mountains.
On the march front, the army forces retreated from areas adjacent to the Sirwah district, west of Ma'rib, which are (Salb Mountains, Al-Khanqi, Al-Quroud, and Al-Kula). Currently, their positions have been established in the mountains and plains under the Al-Jadaan area, reaching Camp Rabish bin Kaalan.
According to "NewsYemen" sources, the army forces withdrew in the third military zone sector, for a distance of 80 km near Mount Hailan, and Iran’s arm had taken control of it and the line between Marib and Camb Kaalan.
Whereas, the seventh military region affiliated with the legitimate government stabilized its forces in the Qalb front in Jufrah and the Al-Lisan desert and Umm Al-Arabi, an area near Baraqish belonging to Al-Jawf, up to the Al-Jawf junction.
And recently, the Houthi militia took control of the "Camb Kaalan" area and several villages in the Al-Jadaan district, along Mount Qutbain and the strategic Mount Merthed.
According to the sources, the front that is still managed by the third military region forces is currently located in the desert and close to the Raghwan district, amid several questions about the reasons for the legitimate forces abandoning most of their positions, especially in light of the multiplicity of accounts about the reality of what happened.
The Ministry of Defense did not issue any explanations about the recent defeats, but leaders in the ministry who are affiliated with the Islah party, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, leaked information in "internal WhatsApp groups" stating that the Houthi militia had infiltrated the army's wireless communications network, issued fake orders to the forces stationed in Nehm, and disrupted the other communications network and the Internet until the 7th Military Zone of the National Army became completely isolated.
Some Brotherhood leaders claimed the weak air coverage by the fighters of the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, of the legitimate forces in the battle of "Nehm", as well as the scarcity of weapons, but the reality was quite the opposite, as the legitimacy left huge weapons and heavy combat equipment stores and the Houthi militia seized them.
The Houthi militia took control of modern military equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles and MBMs, from the arsenal of the legitimate forces in "Nehm", and presented it to its media, and as a result the Ministry of Defense in Marib tried to justify the military scandal by claiming that these weapons are unfit for use.
Military sources in the Ministry of Defense in Marib estimate that 3000 soldiers have been killed and more than 7 thousand of its members have been wounded in the "Nehm" front since the outbreak of the fighting there.
Another military source admitted, in an interview with "NewsYemen", that the National Army forces had lost a large arsenal of weapons that the Houthi militia had controlled, in addition to the burning of many military vehicles by the military during the withdrawals from the battles.
