Riyadh, January 13: Saudi Arabian Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan says Saudi forces have retaken a small border village that was controlled by Yemeni Houthi fighters since fighting broke out between them in November.
“The infiltrators have been eliminated from al-Jabiri, and the whole district has been taken under control,” the state-owned al-Ekhbariya television network quoted Prince Khaled bin Sultan as saying on Tuesday.
He said the overall death toll of Saudi soldiers in the border conflict with Yemen’s Houthi fighters now stands at 82.
Prince Khaled had said on December 22 that the bulk of operations against Houthi fighters were over, although al-Jabiri, in the southern province of Jizan, remained under the Houthis’ control.
The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana’a and Houthi fighters. The conflict intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the fighters in the northern province of Sa’ada.
The Houthis accuse the Yemeni government of violating their civil rights and marginalizing them politically, economically, and religiously.
Saudi forces began fighting with Yemeni Shia resistance fighters, known as Houthis, and bombing their positions on November 4 after accusing the fighters of killing Saudi border guards.
Houthi fighters say that Riyadh pounds their positions and that Saudi forces strike Yemeni villages and indiscriminately target civilians. According to the fighters, the Saudis are using unconventional weapons such as white phosphorus bombs against civilians in northern Yemen.
The US military also continues its air raids on Yemen’s northern regions of Amran, Hajjah, and Sa’ada, which have already been the target of the joint Saudi-Yemen offensive against the Houthi fighters.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that since 2004, up to 175,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sa’ada and take refuge in overcrowded camps set up by the United Nations.
——–Agencies