Saudi forces flee base amid Yemeni retaliation

Rasa - The Yemeni army, backed by fighters from the Popular Committees, has targeted a Saudi military base near the border between the two countries in a retaliatory attack, forcing the Saudi soldiers to flee the area.

News ID: 2635

Date: 01 June 2015 - 11:05

RNA - Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported Sunday that the Yemeni forces fired several rockets at the base in the Jizan region of southwestern Saudi Arabia, sending the Saudi forces running for their lives.

The television network showed the Saudi troops escaping from the base in armored vehicles.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry has reported that one soldier was killed and seven others were wounded in a mortar attack carried out by Yemeni fighters against another Saudi military base in Jizan on Saturday night.

Reports also indicate that the Yemeni fighters targeted military bases in the al-Harth and Najran regions of Saudi Arabia.

According to Saudi Arabia’s News 24 website, several people were also killed and injured in the al-Harth region in retaliatory rocket attacks from the Yemeni side of the border.

Meanwhile, Saudi warplanes attacked a town as well as a military base in the northern parts of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

Saudi aircraft have reportedly conducted airstrikes on the al-Qahera ancient castle in the Yemeni province of Ta’izz, killing a civilian and wounding four others.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia launched its airstrikes on Yemen without a UN mandate. Riyadh seeks to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

According to the UN, the conflict in Yemen has claimed the lives of about 2,000 people and displaced more than 500,000.

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