Yemen: Top intel official injured in Ansarullah drone attack dies

A high-ranking intelligence official injured in a Ansarullah drone attack on Yemen's largest air base held by Saudi mercenaries has died of his wounds.

Brigadier General Saleh Tamah was wounded on Thursday in a strike on a military parade at al-Anad air base in southwestern Lahij province, some 60 kilometers north of Aden.

Medical sources told AFP that Tamah underwent several surgeries in a hospital in Aden but died Sunday morning. 

So far, at least seven ranking officials have been killed in the attack which also left 11 other senior members of the Saudi-led operations center injured.  

The attack came in response to repeated Saudi airstrikes which have put a UN-brokered peace agreement in the strategic port city of Hudaydah in jeopardy. 

Among those injured were deputy chief of staff Saleh al-Zandani, senior commander Fadel Hasan, and Lahij provincial governor Ahmad Abdullah al-Turki, with AFP saying the latter two had  been transferred to Saudi Arabia for treatment.

Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in 2015 with the aim of reinstating former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who resigned amid a political deadlock in January 2015 and then fled to Riyadh. 

The invasion has fallen short of its purpose, but has reportedly killed over 56,000 people and put the country in the throes of an acute famine.

SS