Cross-border fire kills Saudi border guard near Yemen

By Ahmed al-Masri

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AA) - A Saudi border guard was killed in an exchange of fire on Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Thursday.

SPA quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki as saying that a border checkpoint in the kingdom’s southwestern Jazan province had come under fire by "Houthi elements" inside Yemeni territory.

"Our forces responded to the source of fire," al-Turki said, adding that the ensuing gunfight had had led to "the martyrdom of soldier Mohamed Musa Hassan Mahzari".

Recent days have seen scores killed and injured in ongoing clashes between Shia Houthi militiamen and Yemeni pro-government forces -- backed by Saudi-led coalition warplanes -- in Yemen’s northwestern Hajjah province near the Saudi border.

On Monday, two Saudi sailors were killed when Houthi militiamen reportedly attacked a Saudi frigate on patrol in the Red Sea, according to Saudi-led coalition officials.

In 2014, the Houthis overran capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, forcing members of the country’s Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

The following year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s pro-Saudi government.