At least one Saudi soldier has been killed in border clashes with Yemeni tribesmen in a southwestern region of the kingdom.
"One of our Saudi soldiers was killed," said Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, the Saudi spokesman for the military forces, on Saturday, adding that fierce fighting continued in the monarchy’s Najran region along the Saudi-Yemen border from Friday afternoon until late on Saturday.
This is the seventh Saudi troopers killed since Riyadh began aggression against its southern neighbor more than three weeks ago.
Six other soldiers, three with the Saudi Border Guard, lost their lives in recent clashes along the southwestern frontier.
Saudi Arabia has deployed more troops and weaponry near its frontline with its ground forces shelling Yemen’s border regions over the past weeks.
This comes as popular committees backed by Ansarullah fighters of the Houthi movement have made fresh gains in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden and the southern province of Abyan.
They have managed to clear the restive areas of al-Qaeda militants after fierce clashes, seizing their weapons in Aden.
The revolutionaries also continue advancing in Ma’rib province, forcing al-Qaeda militants to retreat from the region.
Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, without a UN mandate, in a bid to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a close ally of Riyadh.
According to sources in the Yemeni army, around 2,600 people have been killed during the aggression.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is rapidly deteriorating. Many international aid organizations have sought clearances to dispatch medical and other humanitarian supplies by air and sea to civilians in need.
MSM/NT/AS