About 180 Houthi rebels died in a major push on the Yemeni-Saudi Arabian border yesterday to try to capture territory inside the kingdom.
“There was an attempt, as usual, to breach the border and sneak into Saudi territory, but the armed forces were watching them and this attempt was thwarted,” Brig Gen Ahmed Al Assiri, spokesman of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, said yesterday.
“Those who tried to infiltrate were killed and the situation is stable.”
It came a day after shelling from Yemen killed another Saudi border guard in the kingdom’s Jazan district. It was the eighth death from cross-border firing in just three days.
The Houthis have been trying to push into Saudi Arabia since the coalition intervened in Yemen in March, trying to drive back the rebels and restore president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to power.
Mr Hadi reshuffled his cabinet yesterday, naming new foreign and interior ministers following signs of discord within the government.
Abdulmalek Al Mikhlafi, who leads a team of government peace negotiators, was sworn in as foreign minister, replacing Riad Yassin, Yemen’s Saba state news agency reported.
“The reshuffle is mainly to replace Yassin who had differences with [prime minister Khaled] Bahah,” a source close to the prime minister said.
General Hussein Arab was appointed interior minister, replacing General Abdo Al Huzeifi who will now lead the country’s intelligence services, Saba said, citing presidential decrees.
Meanwhile, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen threatened the Saudi government yesterday over Riyadh’s plan to carry out a mass execution of prisoners, including some of its captured members.
“We swear to God, our blood will be shed before the blood of our captives, and their pure blood will not dry before we shed the blood of the soldiers of Al Saud,” Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) said on Twitter.
* Agence France-Presse, Reuters
