Yemeni snipers kill 4 Saudi forces in retaliatory attacks

Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have shot dead four Saudi troops in the kingdom’s southwestern border regions of Jizan and Asir amid Riyadh’s aerial attacks against its beleaguered southern neighbor.

Yemeni forces shot and killed three Saudi troops in the al-Dhabra military base of Jizan region, located 969 kilometers south of the capital, Riyadh, on Saturday evening, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

Separately, Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters launched an attack against a base in the al-Rabu’ah town of Asir region, killing a Saudi trooper there.

Earlier, Yemeni forces and their allies fired a barrage of artillery rounds at al-Mostahdeth camp in Jizan, but no immediate reports of possible casualties and damage were available.

Also on Saturday, Yemeni forces fired several missiles at Jizan’s al-Kars military outpost, but no casualties were reported.

Yemeni army soldiers also pounded a gathering of Saudi-sponsored Yemeni militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the Nihm district of Yemen’s western-central province of Sana’a.

Similarly, casualties were caused when Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters launched a number of Katyusha rockets at Sehna Jin Camp in the central Yemeni province of Ma’rib.

The developments came on the same day that Saudi jets launched three aerial attacks against Majz district in Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage.

Munabbih district in the same Yemeni province was also hit, though no reports of casualties were available.

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back the former Yemeni government to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The impoverished Arab country is grappling with the scarcity of food supplies and outbreak of diseases amid Saudi Arabia’s atrocious airstrikes.

The UN International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 7.4 million Yemeni children are in dire need of medical help, and 370,000 run the risk of severe acute malnutrition.