1 killed as Saudi forces trade fire with Yemeni rebels

By Zakaria al-Kamali

SANAA (AA) - A Saudi soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with Houthi rebels on border with war-torn Yemen on Saturday, according to the kingdom’s interior ministry.

The official SPA news agency quoted ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki as saying a border post had come under fire from Houthi rebels in Yemeni territory.

Saudi forces responded to the fire and a soldier was injured in an exchange of fire with attackers and breathed his last before arriving to hospital, the spokesman said.

Houthis earlier claimed that three Saudi soldiers had been shot dead by Houthi snipers on Yemeni-Saudi border.

Meanwhile, the pro-Houthi al-Masira television said Houthis had fired a volley of rockets on Saudi positions in Najran in southern Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The conflict escalated last year when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains and supporting Yemen’s Saudi-backed government.

Two rounds of UN-backed peace talks have failed to resolve the raging conflict, in which thousands of Yemenis are believed to have been killed and an estimated 2.5 million forced to flee their homes.