Saudis in tough fight with Yemen rebels

Arab News:

Saudi Arabia has given Yemeni infiltrators still hiding in the southern border village of Jabiriya 24 hours to vacate the area or face death. “They have 24 hours to surrender, or we will destroy them,” Prince Khaled bin Sultan, assistant minister of defense and aviation, warned Tuesday.

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Prince Khaled said Saudi forces would remain in the area until the last of the intruders are expelled.

“What we are doing now is bringing things to normal. We have also made arrangements to prevent infiltration and other crimes,” the minister told reporters.

He indicated that the infiltrators were backed by foreign parties. “It seems that their allegiance is not to their country.”

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The Scotsman suggest the war may last awhile:

SAUDI Arabia faces a long mountain war with Yemeni rebels that might complicate efforts to prevent infiltration by al-Qaeda militants based in its unstable southern neighbour.

Last month, the Saudis launched a military offensive against the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis – after their leader's clan name – following a rebel cross-border incursion.

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"The Houthis are using unconventional warfare against a state power possibly unequipped and untrained for this type of fight," said Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia and the United States worry that al-Qaeda is trying to use Yemen, where the Houthis are fighting government forces, as a launch pad for attacks in the kingdom and beyond.

With only two major roads linking the two countries, experts say the 940-mile border, covering mountains, hills, caves, valleys and a remote desert, is almost impossible to seal.

Saudi Arabia plans to build a hi-tech fence, but with its forces engaged in border fighting, work on this may be difficult to start in the near future and al-Qaeda may step up infiltration across other parts of the border, analysts say.

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Perhaps they can contract with the Israels who know something about installing a fence while under fire. The Saudis did make an effort at installing a fence with Iraq to try to contain their own jihadis.

I am more optimistic than the Scotsman expert. I think the Saudis are capable of destroying the Houthis if they attempt to come onto Saudi territory.

While there are reasons for concern about al Qaeda in Yemen, they are not associated with the Houthis who are backed by Iran.