Saudi Forces Bomb Yemeni Rebels on Southern Border - WSJ.com

By MOHAMMED ALY SERGIE, SUMMER SAID and MARGARET COKER

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia launched bombing raids Thursday against Yemeni rebels along the border between the two countries, marking a significant escalation in efforts to stamp out an insurgency that Yemen has struggled to contain.

The raids followed the killing of a Saudi soldier when a border patrol was fired on by "infiltrators" Wednesday, according to Saudi state media. The Saudis warned of a fierce retaliation.

Yemen began a military offensive this summer, called Operation Scorched Earth, against the rebel group, known as the Houthi. The flare-up of a five-year-old conflict has raised fears that al Qaeda members who have found refuge in Yemen could take advantage of instability on the rugged, porous border to attack Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi, which isn't connected to al Qaeda, is fighting for autonomy against what it calls an ineffectual and corrupt central Yemen government. The government calls the uprising treasonous. Members of the group, which is named for its founder, practice an offshoot of Shiite Islam, instead of the Sunni Islam that most Yemenis adhere to.

Saudi Arabia is a strong supporter of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a major donor to its impoverished southern neighbor. A top Saudi official recently reiterated Riyadh's commitment to ensuring Yemen's internal security.

The mobilization of Saudi forces is a rare event for the country, which boasts one of the most high-tech and largest military forces in the region.

Details of the Saudi military response Thursday were difficult to confirm. The territory involved is remote and mountainous. The Saudi government declined to comment on the military action or confirm details.

Residents in the Saudi town of Jizan, about 50 miles from the Yemeni border, reported hearing squadrons of fighter planes roaring toward the border before daybreak Thursday. The sorties continued until the end of the day, said one resident, who said he also saw Saudi infantry troops moving toward the border.

Saudi forces evacuated some towns north of Yemen's border which armed infiltrators had occupied Tuesday, carried out airstrikes in Saudi territory and took control of the area, the official Saudi Press Agency reported early Friday.

Rebel leaders told the Associated Press that Saudi bombs had hit their positions well inside Yemeni territory and caused numerous civilian casualties.

The Saudi television network Al Arabiya, which has a reporter on the Saudi-Yemen border, reported that the Saudi military was bombing rebel positions along the border as well as inside Yemen. The network said at least 40 rebels had been killed. That number was impossible to verify, as were reports of civilian casualties.

A doctor working at King Fahd Hospital in Jizan said Thursday night that staff there had been told to prepare for military casualties. Hospital workers had already treated numerous Saudi soldiers who had been wounded in the incursion earlier in the week, he said.

Yemeni diplomats denied that Saudi forces had entered Yemeni airspace or moved across the border into Yemen. "The Houthi insurgents continue to disseminate false information to deflect media attention from their collapsing morals and foothold," said Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington.

During this summer's battles, both the army and the rebels accused outside capitals of interceding on their enemy's behalf. Yemen claims Iran is helping arm the rebels, and the rebels say Riyadh has helped the central government.

The rebels deny getting any help from Tehran, which has offered to mediate in the conflict. A Yemeni Interior Ministry official said that the Saudis had never intervened militarily in Yemen.

The five-year-old conflict between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government has uprooted more than 150,000 Yemeni civilians from their homes and added to a deteriorating security situation in the country.

Besides dealing with the rebels in the north and a separatist threat in the south, the government is struggling to contain al Qaeda militants who are establishing havens in lawless parts of the country.

Saudi officials say the Houthi insurgency distracts the Yemeni president from what they see as the more important task of disrupting those jihadi groups.

Saudis have kicked out or jailed most of their homegrown al Qaeda and are watching the Yemen border closely to keep militant cells there out of the kingdom. This summer, a Yemen-based al Qaeda militant attempted to assassinate the Saudi deputy interior minister, a member of the ruling family.