Continued Saudi air attacks kill 40 Houthis

More than forty Yemeni Muslim fighters have been killed in the fresh Saudi Arabia’s air attacks on the northern Yemen fighters holding territory in the border region.

The fighters were killed in the remote mountainous regions of Malahit and Maran in Saada province.

The Saudi military said the attacks were in response to an earlier confrontation between Yemeni Houthi fighters and Saudi security forces that killed two Saudi security men.

Houthi fighters on November 3 attacked a border patrol on the brink of Yemen-Saudi Arabia border, killing two Saudi guards and wounding 10 others. Six Saudi border guard vehicles were also destroyed in the attack.

The combatants had warned a day earlier that they would retaliate against Saudi Arabia after accusing Riyadh of permitting Yemeni government troops to launch attacks against them from a Saudi security installation in Jabal al-Dukhan.

The conflict between the Houthi fighters and the Yemeni government began in 2004, but intensified last August when government forces stepped up the pressure against the fighters.

Sana’a launched a military offensive codenamed Operation Scorched Earth against the Houthi fighters who say they have been defending their people against the government. Houthis say Sana’a has been marginalizing them economically and politically.

The offensive has killed thousands of people and displaced at least tens of thousands, according to the Red Cross and United Nations.