Saudi fighter jets using phosphorous bombs

Houthi fighters in Yemen say Saudi fighter jets are using phosphorous bombs to back a deadly Yemeni government offensive against them.

“Saudi combat fighter jets launched intense raids against border areas inside Yemeni territory on Sunday night,” the fighters’ spokesman Mohammad Abdessalam told AFP by telephone.

“The Saudi military used phosphorus bombs during those night raids, burning mountainous regions,” he said adding that “The Saudi air raids resumed this morning (Monday). ”

Abdessalam said that the raids targeted Malaheez, seven kilometers (3.8 miles) inside Yemen, as well as the border villages of Hassameh and Shida and several villages around Jebel (mountain) al-Dukhan straddling the border.

The Saudi air force launched its deadly offensive against Houthis seven days ago, accusing the resistance Shia fighters of killing two Saudi soldiers on the border.

While Riyadh claims that its offensive targeted Houthi positions on ‘Saudi territory’, the fighters say Yemeni villages are the main target of heavy bombings.

The developments comes as Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh has declared that attacks against the Houthi fighters will be intensified.

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

Houthi fighters say they have been defending their people against the Yemeni government that has marginalized them economically and politically.