At least two Saudi troopers have been killed when Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, launched surprise attacks against them in response to Riyadh’s deadly airstrikes on the conflict-stricken country.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement that Sergeant Jaber Ahmed Yatimi and Vice Sergeant Muhammad Musa Jaber al-Raythi were killed on Thursday morning in a simultaneous landmine explosion and rocket attack.
The statement noted that the attacks took place in the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Jizan, located 969 kilometers south of the capital, Riyadh, as the pair were on duty.
Yemeni army troops and Popular Committees fighters also launched a number of artillery shells at al-Kars military outpost in the same Saudi region, though no immediate report of casualties was available.
Moreover, Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters fired several rockets at a gathering of Saudi forces east of al-Qafl base in Jizan, but no casualties were immediately reported.
Separately, Saudi warplanes carried out seven airstrikes against the Harad district of Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah, with no immediate word on possible casualties.
Saudi jets also bombarded al-Zahari region in the southwestern Yemeni province of Ta’izz.
Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back to power the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh, 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.