Saudi Arabia says regained mountains from Yemeni rebels (Roundup)

Nov 8, 2009, 9:46 GMT

Sana'a, Yemen - Saudi Arabia said Sunday it has recaptured mountains on its south-western border seized last week by Yemeni rebels.

'The mountains inside the kingdom have been cleared,' Saudi Assistant Defence Minister of Defence Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz was quoted as saying by the official SPA news agency.

He made the remarks during a visit to the south-western region of Jazan on Saturday, the agency said.

Saudi Arabia launched a military operation last week against the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who infiltrated into its territory from Yemen and seized mountainous villages near the border.

'All what they (the Houthis) previously seized, especially al- Dokhan mountain, has been completely controlled even if there are some infiltrations in some places,' the Saudi official said, quoted by SPA.

He said three Saudi soldiers have been killed and four others went missing during clashes with the Yemeni rebels.

   'Those are missing, not captives,' he added.

The Saudi official said 'a number of infiltrators' have been arrested.

The kingdom said Friday its offensive would continue until the rebels have been driven off Saudi territory.

Saudi fighter jets pounded rebel targets inside Yemen for the sixth day Sunday, the rebel group said in a statement. The Saudi army also bombarded rebel positions with artillery, it said.

The Saudi action against the Houthis was sparked by their incursion onto Saudi Arabian territory on November 3.

Yemen's Defence Ministry and Saudi officials have rejected the rebel claims about Saudi air strikes inside Yemen itself, saying that Saudi jets only bombed rebels who had infiltrated Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, a Yemeni air force jet crashed during a raid on rebel strongholds in Saada on Sunday, with the military and rebels giving conflicting accounts of the crash.

Colonel Askar Zuail, a military commander in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada, told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone that 'a Sukhoi plane crashed due to a technical malfunction. The pilot ejected and landed safely.'

The plane went down in the mountainous Razih district on the border with Saudi Arabia, he said.

But rebels in a statement claimed that they shot the plane down.

It was the third crash of an air force fighter jet in Saada since the army began its latest offensive against the rebels on August 11. Two planes crashed in October, in both cases the rebels also claiming to have downed them.