RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) May 1, 2015 — Yemen’s Shiite rebels attacked Saudi border posts, sparking fierce fighting overnight that killed three Saudi troops and dozens of rebels, the kingdom said. Saudi-led airstrikes continued to bomb rebel positions inside Yemen on Friday, including a strike in the capital, Sanaa that killed at least 20 civilians.
The attack late Thursday by the rebels, known as Houthis, was the most dramatic border incident since Saudi Arabia launched an intense campaign of airstrikes against the rebels just over a month ago. It also brought to 11 the number of Saudi soldiers killed so far in border skirmishes during the air campaign.
The Saudi-led offensive, which started March 26, aims to diminish the military capabilities of the Houthis, who have overrun the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and are advancing deep into the country’s south.
The U.N. says at least 550 civilians have been killed so far in the war, whether from airstrikes or ground fighting.
Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country in March, is now based in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, along with most of his government. There have been recent calls by officials in exile for a Saudi-led ground invasion to restore Hadi’s government to power.
“There must be a direct military intervention … to stop Saleh and the Houthis,” Yemen’s Transportation Minister Mohammed Badr Bassalma told Al-Arabiya satellite TV on Friday, speaking from Riyadh.
In the southern port city of Aden — Hadi’s base before he fled to Riyadh— and in the city of Taiz, warplanes bombed positions of the Houthis and Saleh’s forces killing scores of fighters, according to security officials. At least 12 people were killed because of ground fighting in Aden on Friday, according to medical officials who did not elaborate. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
In the border attack, Houthi fighters in tanks and armored vehicles struck “border posts and control points” in the southern Saudi region of Najran on Thursday night, the kingdom’s Defense Ministry said.
Saudi forces, backed by fighter jets, repelled the attack and “dozens of the militiamen were killed. Three soldiers of the ground troops were martyred,” according to the statement, which did not clarify how far across the border the attackers came.
The Saudis say they have eliminated much of the stockpiles of missiles and heavy weapons that were allegedly under the control of Saleh’s forces and his rebel allies. The kingdom says it has also succeeded in barring Iran from delivering more money and weapons to the Houthis.