Yemeni Resistance leader killed in mysterious circumstances

A leader in the Popular Resistance Committees in Yemen's Marib province was killed in mysterious circumstances, while the Houthi rebels and their allies increased their missile attacks on the outskirts of the province.

Sheikh Azeb al-Hedi, one of the Popular Resistance field commanders in Marib was shot dead late on Saturday by a fellow Resistance fighter who lived near him in the city.

The New Arab received information that the gunman handed himself over to the Resistance after the incident but it is still unknown whether or not he had shot the commander by accident.

On Friday, a senior Yemeni intelligence officer in Marib, Colonel Jarallah Salhi, was gunned down in the centre of the city.

Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired several missiles at different locations in Marib and at the presidential palace there, which is being used as a military encampment by anti-rebel forces.

Several soldiers who were guarding a commander of forces loyal to the government - General Hashem al-Ahmar - were killed and others were injured in the missile attack on the presidential palace.

The Resistance and other loyalists control most of Marib, but sporadic clashes still occur in the northern and western parts of the province between loyalists and Houthi rebels.

The Resistance made decisive progress in the past two weeks in the north of Marib on the border with al-Jawf province.

Missile fired at Saudi Arabia

Saudi air defence forces intercepted "a Scud missile fired from Sanaa in Yemen towards the city of Najran" late on Saturday, said the coalition that has been battling rebels in Yemen since March.

Coalition jets "immediately destroyed the missile launch pad after identifying its location in Yemen," it said in a statement published by Saudi Arabia's official SPA news agency.

Yemen's Iran-backed rebels have intensified their rocket attacks across the Saudi border during the past week, prompting the coalition to threaten severe reprisals against them.

The Saudis have deployed Patriot missile batteries designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles.

In a statement published on their sabanews.net website, the rebels said they fired rockets at Jizan and Najran on the Saudi side of the border on Saturday, causing "losses in life and equipment".

They also said they fired another ballistic missile on Najran on Sunday, but Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed this attack.

More than 80 people, most of them soldiers and border guards, have been killed in shelling and cross-border skirmishes in the kingdom's south since coalition operations began in Yemen.

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in Yemen since March, according to UN figures.

Agencies contributed to this report