By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Saudi Arabian forces have seized a strategic mountain straddling the border with Yemen and cleared it of Shi’ite rebels after five days of fighting that have left three Saudi soldiers dead, a Saudi defense official said Sunday.

In a dramatic escalation of the five-year conflict, Saudi forces began shelling and bombing rebel positions last week. Saudi Arabia entered the conflict after fears that extremism and instability in Yemen could spill into its country. Assistant Saudi Minister Khaled Bin Sultan said Sunday’s advance was a step toward sealing the Saudi border against the rebels. Saudi officials say their military has fought only in its own territory, focusing on rebel infiltrators, but Yemeni rebels, military officials and Arab diplomats say Saudi airstrikes have hit deep inside northern Yemen.

Rebel spokesman Mohammad Abdel-Salam denied that rebels had crossed the Saudi border, saying those detained were Yemeni migrants hoping to work in the much richer country. He continued saying, that “lies” about rebel infiltrators “reveal the failure of Yemeni government in confronting our forces, and that has pushed Yemeni regime to seek help from the Saudis.” Abdel-Salam also said rebel fighters shot down a Yemeni fighter jet on Sunday, and Yemeni and Saudi jets have carried out continuous strikes in the region, “damaging many villages and killing civilians.”

Yemeni officials claim that the jet crashed due to a technical error. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said that the military would not cease the offensive against the Huthis “until we bring this tyrannical, traitorous and mercenary group to an end.”

For more information please see:

AP – Saudis Take Mountain from Yemen Rebels – 8 November 2009

BBC – Saudis ‘Push Back Yemen Rebels’ – 8 November 2009

Al-Jazeera – Saudis ‘Retake Captured Territory’ – 8 November 2009