Saudi air force hits Yemen rebels after border raid

RIYADH, (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has launched heavy  air strikes on rebels in northern Yemen and is moving troops  nearer the border after a raid into its territory by the Shi’ite  insurgents, a Saudi government adviser said yesterday.

Saudi government officials said only that the air force had  bombed Yemeni rebels who had seized a border area inside the  kingdom, which they said had now been recaptured. The officials  said at least 40 rebels had been killed in the fighting.

The Yemeni government — which has long dismissed  accusations by rebels that it has colluded with Saudi Arabia to  combat them — denied that Saudi planes had struck across the  border.

“Saudi Arabia did not hit targets in Yemen,” a Yemeni  defence official told Reuters, declining further comment.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has become  increasingly anxious about instability and militancy in Yemen,  which is also facing separatist sentiment in the south and a  growing threat from resurgent al Qaeda fighters.

“As of yesterday late afternoon, Saudi air strikes began on  their positions in northern Yemen,” the adviser said, asking not  to be named because operations were still going on.

“There have been successive air strikes, very heavy  bombardment of their positions, not just on the border, but on  their main positions around Saada,” he said, alluding to the  capital of the northern province where the rebels have been  battling Yemen government forces since August.

Al Jazeera television quoted a rebel spokesman as saying the  Saudi air force had raided six locations inside Yemen. One  position had been hit by about 100 missiles in one hour.

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday a security officer was killed  and 11 were wounded in an attack by gunmen who had crossed the  border from Yemen — the first such reported incursion since the  long-running Houthi revolt flared up again in August.

The Saudi-owned Elaph website reported that a second soldier  had died later from the same clash.

The Saudi government adviser said no decision had yet been  taken to send troops across the border, but made clear Riyadh  was no longer prepared to tolerate the Yemeni rebels.