RIYADH — A Saudi soldier was killed and another wounded by shelling from forces loyal to ousted Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Houthi rebels near the Yemen border, the Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday. The rocket fire at Al-Harth Sector in the southern city of Jazan killed Faisal Mohammed Belqasem Maqaadi and wounded another soldier, an Interior Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by SPA. At least 44 people, civilians and troops, have now lost their lives in shelling and skirmishes along the Saudi side of the border. Last week, three Saudi soldiers and an Emirati were killed in the border area. On Saturday, Yemeni rebels withdrew some of their forces from the southern city of Aden to reinforce positions elsewhere, security officials said, as fighting sparked a fire in the city's oil refinery. Two battalions of the Republican Guard and special forces supporting Saleh were moving to Sanaa and their northern stronghold of Saada near the Saudi border, they said. A shell hit a fuel tank in Aden's refinery, starting a blaze that poured huge black smoke clouds over the city, employees and witnesses said. Company officials rushed to put out the fire, which caused a panic among residents, who feared it would spread to other nearby reservoirs. At least five Iranian-backed Houthis were killed Saturday in Yemen's central province of Al-Bayda during heavy clashes with the Popular Resistance Front loyal to President Abdrabbu Mansout Hadi, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Other clashes between the two factions in Yemen's western governorate of Raima led to the killing of a Houthi leader, according to the channel. In the southern port city of Aden, at least 13 Iranian-backed Houthi militias were killed after heavy clashes with the Popular Resistance broke out. The battles came after Houthi forces fired missiles at storage tanks at an Aden oil refinery, starting a large fire. — Agencies
