Yemeni security forces killed top Islamic State commander in southern province of Ibb

Yemeni security forces have carried out a military operation targeting the hideouts of Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the country’s southwestern Province of Ibb, killing a senior militant in the process.

The Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, citing a statement released by the Yemeni Interior Ministry, reported that Salah al-Rashedi, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Yousef al-Ta’izi, was killed on the outskirts of al-Qaida city when he refused to surrender himself and engaged in a fierce exchange of gunfire with security troops.

The statement added that Rashedi was from the At Ta’iziyah district of the southern coastal Province of Ta’iz, and was wanted for promotion of violent extremism as well as a number of targeted killings.

Also on Thursday, Saudi fighter jets launched an airstrike against a Yemeni area close to the kingdom’s southern border region of Najran. There were no immediate reports of casualties available though.

Saudi-led warplanes also carried out nine airstrikes against Medghal and Sirwah districts in the strategic central Ma’rib Province, but there were no reports of possible casualties or the extent of damage caused.

Elsewhere in the northern Province of al-Jawf, Saudi-led aircraft launched three air raids against Khabb wa ash Sha’af district. No reports of casualties were quickly available.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives for over the past five years.

Source: Abna 24