Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will step up aid to citizens who were displaced from areas bordering Yemen during heavy fighting with Yemeni Shiite rebels last year, the ministry of finance said on Wednesday.
The move was announced after Saudi newspapers carried reports of citizens in the relatively poor Jizan province complaining of hardship and poor housing conditions after they had to abandon their villages during the conflict last year.
Thousands of Saudis were displaced from the border after the army started a campaign in November against what it said were intrusions by Yemeni Shiite rebels who were accusing Riyadh of letting Yemeni troops use its territory to attack them.
At least 113 Saudi soldiers were killed in the fighting which ended with a truce in January. The Yemeni government reached its own ceasefire deal with the rebels a month later, bringing to an end the sixth round of intermittent fighting since violence in northern Yemen first flared up in 2004.
Poorest province
The displaced families would get up to 70,000 riyals ($19,000) annually to buy food, housing and clothing, the finance ministry said on its website.
Up to 900 million riyals worth of aid have been given to the displaced since the start of the conflict last year, the ministry said. Jizan is one of the kingdom's poorest provinces, with some inhabitants relying on smuggling for their subsistence.
