Four Saudi civilians killed in Houthi cross-border attack

Houthi shelling into neighbouring Saudi Arabia killed four civilians and injured three others on Monday, in escalating violence along the tense border.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

01 August, 2016

Escalating clashes have caused tension along the Yemeni-Saudi border [AFP]

Four Saudi civilians were killed and three others injured when Houthi shelling landed in a residential area on Monday, officials confirmed.

A woman and a child were among those killed by cross-border shelling that landed on a village in Jizan – a far southern Saudi city along the Yemeni border, Saudi civil defence officials said.

The attack comes as the kingdom warned rebels that its borders are a "red line" after seven soldiers were killed attempting to stop Houthis from crossing into the country.

Riyadh "will not accept any violations," advisor for the Saudi defence minister and spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels in Yemen, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri warned, local media reported.

Houthi rebels backed by renegade troops loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to infiltrate the borders in the southern Najran area on Saturday, prompting Saudi forces to fire back at the rebels.

Southern Saudi Arabia, especially the border areas with Yemen, has come under sporadic attack since Riyadh took the lead in March 2015 in an Arab military coalition battling Shia Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen.

Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes.

More than 6,400 Yemenis, most of them civilians, have been killed since last March, and the fighting has driven 2.8 million Yemenis from their homes.