In a demonstration of their victory over Huthi rebels in Jabal Dokhan, Saudi paratroopers landed in the regained Jabal Dokhan and erected the Saudi flag Sunday. The Saudi army Saturday drove the Huthi rebels out of the region after fierce clashes. Saudi ground troops and heavy long-range artillery lined the sides of the main road to the frontier town of Al-Khubah at the foot of Jabal Dokhan. The country's forces also patrolled fields and inspected vehicles for any remaining members of the Huthi force. At least eight young Huthi rebels with explosives were arrested wearing black thobes and black turbans to avoid being detected by infrared cameras and night vision systems. They said they were instructed to blow themselves up in populated areas at the refugee camps. The security forces also seized three vehicles loaded with weapons the rebels attempted to smuggle into the Kingdom. On Sunday, the situation at Jabal Dokhan was calm. However, Saudi jets were still making sporadic sorties over the region and bombing areas along the border suspected to be harboring rebels. The Saudi security forces have arrested 155 rebels since the eruption of the conflict last week, according to Al-Arabiya Satellite Channel. Al-Arabiya aired on Sunday footage of Saudi soldiers capturing and blindfolding men in traditional Arab robes whom the station identified as Huthi fighters. The rebels had “betrayed their country before they have betrayed the Kingdom and their loyalty has been pledged for other countries,” Prince Khaled Bin Sultan, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Security Affairs said. As a precautionary measure, residents of over 300 border villages have been evacuated. Al-Khubah refugee camp was closed on Sunday after the region was declared a restricted conflict zone. The area within a radius of 10 km of the border line is a “Killing zone,” Prince Khaled said. “It is a surrender or perish zone,” he added. The refugees were transferred by government buses to the 2000-tent main camp in Ahad Al-Masareha. Over 3,000 evacuated families from the border villages of Al-Aridah, Bani Malik, and Al-Daer have registered for accommodation at the camp. Jizan business community has secured the camp with food, water, furniture, and clothes. The National Society of Human Rights (NSHR) has monitored the movement of the refugees and services being offered at the camps in the region, said Mifleh Al-Qahtani, chairman of the NSHR. Tribal chiefs and their men in Ahad Al-Masareha and Abu Aresh, 50 km north the border line, have also opened their houses for the refugees. Prince Khaled visited on Sunday injured troops at King Fahad Hospital in Jizan province and praised their sacrifice for their homeland. One of the injured troops told the Prince that he would go back and fight despite his wounds. The clashes left 50 Saudi troops wounded, most of them have recovered. The Prince said that the Kingdom is determined to quash the rebels. He called the Saudi response “a rebuke to intruders who had infiltrated the borders of the kingdom,” Prince Khaled said that three members of the Saudi security forces were killed in the fighting. Four Saudi troops were missing, but Prince Khaled denied reports that they had been taken prisoner. Meanwhile, according to Jazan News website, a Huthi infiltrator with a knife tried to sneak into the Samtah Hospital to kill a fellow rebel who was injured in the fighting and taken to hospital. The rebel said that he wanted to kill the injured man before he could reveal any secrets. Security has since been tightened at the hospital.
