Arms markets, such as that in the Yemeni village of Al-Malaheedh, were crucial to the infiltrators' continued war with the Yemeni government, supplying them with machine guns, bazookas and ammunition which are then smuggled further into Yemen across rugged territory extremely difficult to monitor. Weapons markets in the Yemeni settlements of Al-Minzala, Al-Malaheet, Al-Hasama, and Al-Mashnaq are all within a stone's throw of Saudi villages Jilah, Majda'ah, Al-Qarqa'ee, and Al-Soudaq, the sources said. Another market is located in Badr Ghamr, in the Yemeni Wadi Badr valley in the Ghamr Mountains, close to the homeland of the Saudi Qais tribe in the region of Al-Aridha. Smugglers, according to the sources, acquire arms in Badr Ghamr and then bring them into the Kingdom across the Qais, Sala and Al-Abadel mountains. The weekly Neid Al-Rakul market in the Sour Mountains, accessible via roads to Sa'ada and Al-Talh in Yemen, is renowned for the sale of hand grenades and “pen pistols”. Attempts to smuggle weapons from the market into the Kingdom are frequently detected, however, as routes run parallel to the Bani Malik mountains in Saudi Arabia. The Afeeq arms market, according to the sources, offers a wide range of weaponry and explosives, and lies only two kilometers from the Saudi border.
