Yemen Adapts Surface-to-Air Missile to Hit Ground Targets
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Yemeni Ansarullah movement’s technicians have succeeded to make major alterations to the Russian-made S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile system, producing a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can hit targets in a range of 500 kilometers.
The military innovation came after Ansarullah forces realized that the S-75 missiles cannot be efficiently utilized for targeting the advanced military warplanes belonging to a Saudi-led military coalition, which have been pounding Yemen for about nine months.
By making major modifications, the Ansarullah experts could adapt the surface-to-air missile (SAM) to hit target on the ground.
The new product, dubbed ‘Qaher-1’, is a ballistic missile with a range of 500 kilometers. It was first fired at the Khaled bin Abdulaziz military base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, located 884 kilometers (549 miles) southwest of the capital, Riyadh.
Since March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been launching deadly airstrikes against Yemen in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
According to Yemeni sources, some 7,500 people have been killed in the Saudi-led aggressions so far.
In a recent retaliatory attack on December 18, Yemen’s army, backed by the Houthi fighters, launched a Tochka ballistic missile at a military camp in Yemen’s west-central province of Ma’rib, killing at least 180 Saudi-led troops.
A military source said Yemeni forces had also fired two Qaher-1 ballistic missiles at the Najran region in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The counterattacks, the source said, came after Saudi Arabia's violation of a ceasefire.
