Saudis send tank ‘strike force’ to Yemen border after clashes with Houthis

Hours after Saudi Arabia forces and Houthi rebels traded heavy artillery fire, Saudi-owned media reported the country is sending a “strike force” to its border with Yemen. Al Arabiya Hadath TV broadcast pictures of a column of tanks loaded onto military trucks and described it as “the arrival of reinforcements from the strike force to the border”. The fighting between Yemen’s Shia rebels and Saudi forces in border areas came a day before a humanitarian ceasefire was due to take effect. Also on Monday, a Moroccan F-16 fighter jet taking part in the Saudi-led coalition against the Shia rebels, known as Houthis, has gone missing, Morocco said.

The indiscriminat bombing of populated areas, with or without prior warning, is in contravention of international humanitarian law.

Johannes Van Der Klaauw, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Yemen

The Houthis said they fired Katyusha rockets and mortars on the Saudi cities of Jizan and Najran, after the Saudis hit Saada and Hajjah provinces with more than 150 rockets. Saudi planes also struck positions of the Houthi group in the central city of Taiz and in the oil-producing Marib province, east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Air strikes by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni countries jets have been targeting the Houthis for about six weeks now, but have so far failed to push them back. The five-day ceasefire, scheduled to begin on Tuesday, would allow the delivery of humanitarian supplies to civilians in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, who increasingly lack food, fuel and medicine.

Saudi tanks Middle East