News / Yemen

Yemeni retaliatory attack leaves four Saudi soldiers dead

Tuesday, 13 June 2017 1:44 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 13 June 2017 1:55 PM ]

Members of the Saudi border guard are stationed at a lookout point on the Saudi-Yemeni border, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, on April 9, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

At least four Saudi soldiers have been killed when Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees launched an attack against a border crossing in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Asir as they continue their retaliatory raids against Riyadh regime’s aerial bombardment campaign.

An unnamed military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni forces and their allies fatally shot the troopers in the al-Alab border crossing on Tuesday afternoon.

Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters also lobbed several artillery rounds at al-Makhrouq military bases in Najran region, located 844 kilometers south of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, though no reports of casualties were immediately available.

Earlier in the day, Yemeni forces had targeted Saudi army compounds north of al-Shabaka military base in the al-Sharafa region of Najran, causing casualties.

A report by Reuters published in April last year said that at least 400 Saudi soldiers had been killed in the cross-border fire since the start of the Saudi aggression against Yemen more than two years ago.

In early April, Arabic-language Yemen Watch news agency reported that nearly 120 Saudi troopers had been killed in dozens of sniper operations carried out by Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees.

It added that most of the operations had been conducted in Jizan, where a total of 74 Saudi soldiers lost their lives in 22 encounters.

In early May, al-Masirah reported that Yemeni sharpshooters had managed to kill as many as 64 Saudi troops in April alone.

The Riyadh regime has maintained a policy of ambiguity regarding its casualties in the war on Yemen. Senior military officials have said that they would not release such information until after the war.

People stand on the rubble of a house destroyed by a Saudi airstrike in Sana’a, Yemen, on June 9, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Also on Tuesday, a woman sustained injuries after Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fired a number of missiles into al-Hajlan area in Sirwah district of Yemen’s central province of Ma'rib.

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, to power and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement. The Riyadh regime has, however, failed to reach its goals despite suffering great expense.

The military aggression has claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people, most of them civilians.

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