On March 22, the Houthis media wing released a 3-minuate video showing the destruction of 20 vehicles of Saudi-backed forces on the front of Sirwah in the central Yemeni province of Ma’rib.
All the vehicles in the video were destroyed with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) in the last two weeks. Some of the vehicles can be seen carrying many Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters, who were killed and injured in these attacks.
The Houthis’ tank hunters used Soviet-made Konkurs and Metis ATGMs in these attacks. Both missiles are guided by semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS). While the Konkurs has a range of up to 4km, the Metis can only hit targets within a 1km reduce.
According to the Saudi-led coalition claims, the Houthis are receiving these guided missiles from Iran. Several ATGM shipments were indeed busted by the coalition over the last four years. However, there is no evidence that confirm the missiles used in these new attacks were supplied by Iran.
The Houthis’ extinctive use of ATGMs on the front of Sirwah has allowed the group to advance rapidly and infected heavy losses on Saudi-backed forces. The Yemeni rebel group will likely adopt the same strategy on other fronts in the near future.
