Three Saudi soldiers have been killed in a clash with armed "hostile elements" who attempted to infiltrate the border from Yemen, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. The clash erupted on Sunday evening hours after a Saudi border guard and two Yemeni civilians were killed in separate incidents in the border region, according to the ministry. In the latest incident border guards in the southwestern Jazan "confronted... an infiltration attempt by hostile elements" who targeted military posts with gunfire and rockets, the ministry said. The infiltrators were "forced to retreat" but three soldiers were killed in the clash, it added in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Close to 80 people have been killed in border shelling and skirmishes since Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a military intervention against the Houthis in Yemen in March. Most of the casualties have been soldiers. Meanwhile, an air strike has killed Ibrahim Badr Al-Houthi — the brother of Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, near a Yemeni border area, Al Arabiya News channel reported on Sunday. The air strike targeted the Houthi leader in Al-Saifi area in the northwestern city of Saada. Eight other leadership figures in the Iran-backed militia group were also killed in the air strike. The news come as Yemeni loyalists supported by the Saudi-led coalition battled Sunday to oust the Houthis from a southern province where they have made gains in recent weeks, with at least 16 reported dead. Government forces backed by the coalition launched an all-out offensive last week to push the rebels out of the southwestern province of Taiz and break the siege of loyalists in its provincial capital. — Agencies
