Damaged Oshkosh Vehicles Buttress Yemeni Claims of Attack on Saudi Arabia

Oshkosh-made M-ATV vehicles seen in a video footage released by Yemeni Houtis may provide a hint to their claim that they destroyed Saudi military vehicles in an attack launched on Sunday in Najran, a city along Saudi-Yemeni border.

Yemeni Houtis announced on September 29 that they had carried out a “major assault” on Saudi Arabian-led coalition, claiming to have killed over 200 of their soldiers, other than annihilating military vehicles. The Saudi-led coalition has yet to respond to the claims.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, described an ambush on the Saudi forces that then developed into an "all-out" cross-border offensive that trapped the troops inside Saudi Arabia. Saree stated that the Houtis defeated three "enemy military brigades,” leading to the capture of "thousands" of troops, including Saudi army officers and soldiers, and hundreds of armoured vehicles.

Slowly burning armoured vehicles with Saudi markings and weapons “seized” from Saudi military can be observed in the video footage. In one such close-up shot, a vehicle with the name of the American firm, “Oshkosh” can be seen inscribed. However, it is unclear as to when the footage was recorded.

In September 2013, the Saudi Arabian army reportedly began negotiations for an undisclosed number of Oshkosh MRAP-All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV). According to some reports, the Saudi Arabian Army boasts of 1800 of these vehicles.

In the same year, the company completed deliveries of 750 M-ATVs to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Riyadh’s ally.

Not too long ago, on September 14, Yemeni Houtis claimed to have orchestrated the drone attack on Saudi oil facilities- Abqaiq and Khurais, which are the largest in the world.