Sana — Houthis faked the capture of Saudi Army in order to win the popular opinion inside and outside of Yemen, said Arab Coalition spokesperson on Monday while rubbishing the Houthi-claims they captured “thousands” of Saudi forces.
The Houthi militias claimed on Sunday that they captured thousands of Saudi forces and their armored vehicles during a massive operation on the Saudi-Yemen border. They further announced to parade the Prisoners of War (POWs). However, no independent body verified the claims.
The supposedly captured Saudi soldiers were shown in the footage wearing Lungi and flip-flops walking on a rugged terrain, which initially created dubiousness of the Houthi-claim.
Arab Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maliki in a press conference in Riyadh on Monday said that, “Unfortunately, there are regional and international media that are carrying such news. It is definitely fabricated. They (Houthis) are making up events and trying to influence the popular opinion in Yemen, the region, and the world,” Al-Arabiya News reported.
“It’s not appropriate for the coalition’s media to respond to every single false claim that the militia put out,” he added.
A Turkey-based researcher Khalil Dewan tweeted on Sunday that “Open source pictures clearly do not show “thousands” of POWs…Nor can this be verified,” hinting that Houthis have lied in the past and their claims cannot be verified.
Open source pictures clearly do not show “thousands” of POWs. #Houthis #SaudiArabia #Yemen
— Khalil Dewan (@KhalilDewan) September 29, 2019
Nor can this be verified.
Video to follow pic.twitter.com/04ekZAloTs
In the recent attack on the Saudi oil installations on September 14, Houthis released a video within hours claiming the attacks.
Initial investigations revealed that the attacks were made by Iran, and the Houthis took the responsibility to purposefully divert the attention.
