Five Saudi Border Guard soldiers were killed in a day-long battle with “hostile elements” from Yemen who tried to penetrate the kingdom’s southern border on Monday, the Ministry of Interior said.
A ministry statement said that the armed groups attacked from several directions along the vast border in Najran region and it took responding Saudi forces eight hours to completely repel them.
The killed soldiers were identified as Suleiman bin Said bin Suleiman, Musa bin Zain bin Mohammed Marhabi, Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Hassan Sharahili, Marzouq bin Said bin Ali Salloum and Jaber bin Ali bin Hussein Al-Alawi.
The statement did not say which group the attackers belonged. In previous infiltration attempts, the culprits have been pinpointed as members of the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi militia.
A number of Saudi soldiers have lost their lives defending the southern borders since Houthis and loyalists of disgraced former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Ali went on a rampage since 2014.
The unholy Houthi-Saleh alliance succeeded in capturing the capital Sanaa and forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansou Hadi to seek refuge in Riyadh. Saudi soldiers
Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh. Saudi soldiers
The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militias in March 2015. It sides with the President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while the Houthis are aligned with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after Yemen revolution in 2012.
Houthi leader threatens to attack Saudi Arabia
A prominent leader in the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen threatened Saudi Arabia said his forces will attack the kingdom if the Yemen peace talks in Kuwait fails.
The leader, named Abu Malik al-Fishi, said that the peace talks is going to fail as Saudi Arabia and the UN didn’t put efforts to make it succeed. He also
He also threatened Saudi Arabia with a war that will have devastating results in them unless they used the next days to find a solution for the talks in Kuwait.
He promised to target the Suadi cities, force its citizens to flee as happened in Yemen, and destroy the Saudi infrastructure.
He said that the Houthi forces will make Saudis feel as we felt target all Saudi areas except for Mecca and Madina, as they are sacred cities and must remain safe for the displaces people.
This latest statement is an unexpected development in Abu Malik’s speech, as he previously criticized Iran for its intervention in Yemen and praised Saudi Arabia in April 2016.
