Yemeni forces have killed as many as nine Saudi-backed militants, hitting them in two separate counterstrikes throughout the impoverished nation.

Yemen’s Army and its allies have been hitting back against Saudi Arabia which has been pounding its impoverished neighbor for more than two years now.

On Saturday, the Army and their allies killed five Saudi mercenaries in Midi District of the northwestern Hajjah Province, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network said.

A day earlier, the Army and Houthi fighters had downed a spy drone belonging to the mercenaries in the same region.

Also on Saturday, Yemeni snipers took out four Saudi-backed militants in Sirwah District of the west-central Ma’rib Province.

Al-Masirah further reported heavy confrontation between the Army and militants in Jawf Province, which is similarly located in the northwest.

The soldiers and Houthi fighters fired rockets at the al-Salatah military base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Najran region while Saudi warplanes staged three airstrikes against the strategic al-Dailami airbase, north of the capital Sana’a.

Yemeni supporters of the Houthi Ansarullah movement attend rally to mark two years of the military invasion by Saudi Arabia, in the capital Sana’a on March 26, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

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US drone raid

Various reports said a US drone had hit al-Jubah District in Ma’rib, allegedly killing four al-Qaeda elements on Friday.

The militants were purportedly targeted while leaving the Ma’rib for the nearby province of Bayda.

Successive US administrations have been ordering unauthorized drone attacks against Yemen and other Muslim countries.

Soon after incumbent President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the Pentagon ordered an air raid against Bayda. The strike came to be known as “the botched raid” after it killed as many as 25 civilians and a US commando.

The Pentagon, however, continued to order 20 more attacks using manned and unmanned aircraft against purported al-Qaeda targets in Bayda and two more south-central provinces of Abyan and Shabwah in March.