Yemenis’ retaliatory attack leaves two Saudi troopers dead

Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have reportedly launched an attack against Saudi border guards in the kingdom’s southwestern region of Jizan, leaving two troopers dead.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni snipers fatally shot two Saudi troopers in the al-Dokhan military base of the region, located 967 kilometers southwest of Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, on Monday afternoon.

The source added that the attack was in retaliation for Riyadh’s relentless aerial bombardment campaign against Yemen.

The development came on the same day that Yemeni military sources announced that as many as 152 Saudi soldiers had been gunned down by Yemeni forces and Popular Committees fighters over the past four months.

The sources, requesting not to be named, said Yemeni soldiers and their allies carried out sniper operations against the kingdom’s southwestern border regions last month, leaving 36 Saudi soldiers dead.

Most of the operations were conducted in Jizan, where a total of 27 Saudi troopers lost their lives in 24 encounters.

Yemeni snipers also performed four operations in Najran, situated 844 kilometers south of Riyadh, where six Saudi soldiers were killed. Three operations in Asir claimed the lives of three Saudi troopers as well.

Moreover, a total of 33 Saudi soldiers were killed in sniper operations during January. A total of 93 Saudi troopers were also killed in the last two months of 2016.

Nearly two dozen Houthi fighters killed in Saudi strike, clashes

Meanwhile, at least 16 Houthi Ansarullah fighters were killed on Monday when Saudi fighter jets launched an aerial attack in Yemen's western coastal province of Hudaydah. 

A medical official and a military source, both requesting anonymity, said the strike targeted a military base in the city of Bajil.

They added that 23 Houthi fighters also sustained injuries in the attack.

Separately, clashes between Ansarullah members and Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to resigned Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi near the Red Sea port city of Mukha, situated 346 kilometers south of Sana'a, left seven Houthis dead. 

According to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, the Saudi military campaign has claimed the lives of 10,000 Yemenis and left 40,000 others wounded.

McGoldrick told reporters in Sana’a earlier this year that the figure was based on casualty counts given by health facilities and that the actual number might be higher.

On February 23, Yemen’s Legal Center for Rights and Development, an independent monitoring group, put the civilian death toll in the war-torn Arab country at 12,041.

The fatalities, it said, comprise 2,568 children and 1,870 women.

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