Yemen rebels 'take' Saudi land in cross-border raid

Riyadh: Yemen's five-year-old insurgency spilled for the first time into Saudi Arabia with Al Houthi rebels entering the kingdom and attacking a border patrol.

The rebels on their website claimed to have taken control of some Saudi territory, which could not be immediately verified.

The border has witnessed intense fighting in the past two days, forcing 11 schools in the area to be temporarily shut, Gulf News has learned.

Tension has been building in the region with Al Houthis accusing Saudi Arabia of aiding Yemen, and Sana'a accusing Iran of supporting the rebels.

Infiltration

A security officer was killed and 11 others wounded in clashes, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. A well-informed source told Gulf News that the infiltrators were Al Houthi rebels from the Zaidi Shiite sect.

"The Al Houthi infiltration and attack follows an accusation by rebels that the Saudi authorities were allowing Yemeni forces to use one of their military bases in Dukhan Mountain," the source said, adding that the rebels' target was actually the military base.

In an earlier statement, Al Houthis warned Saudi Arabia against its involvement in the fighting by extending support to the Yemeni government. "If the Saudi regime continues to attack us, we will defend ourselves," they said in an online statement.