2 Saudi soldiers killed near Yemen border

By Hussein Mahmoud Ragab Elkabany and Safiye Karabacak

RIYAD (AA) – Two Saudi soldiers were killed near the Kingdom’s border with the war-weary Yemen, local media reported on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia's official news agency SPA said Faris Said al-Gamidi and Bedr Isa es-Silmi were killed when they were on duty at the southern border of Yemen.

The ranks of the soldiers were not revealed, neither the details about the time and circumstances of the deaths.

Yemen’s Houthis target Saudi Arabian troops by infiltrating the border occasionally, as well as missile attacks on the Saudi border cities of Najran and Jizan.

Earlier in November, Saudi Arabia announced that five soldiers were killed in Jizan.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the United Nations.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara