Saudi forces foiled on Tuesday attempts by an armed group to cross the border with the intention of targeting refugees and civilians, a military source said Tuesday evening. According to the source, an undisclosed number of armed infiltrators captured in Ahad Al-Masareha, Al-Ain Al-Hara and Al-Daghareer, told interrogators that they had hidden arms at abandoned border villages and farmhouses months prior to the first attack on a border post on Nov. 4. The government ordered the evacuation of villages along the border to continue as fears mounted that infiltrators planned to target civilians. Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Security Affairs Prince Khalid Bin Sultan, currently on a visit to Washington, described the evacuated areas as a “killing zone”. “We have fought to save civilian lives and remove them to more secure areas so we can deal with the attackers,” Prince Khalid said. Saudi ground troops have over the past few days combed abandoned farmhouses in search of arms hidden by infiltrators believed to be destined for use in nighttime attacks after they slip back across the border. House by house searches revealed one infiltrator had been given lodging at the home of a Saudi national who believed his guest to be a Yemeni refugee in need of shelter. The Saudi said that the man told him he had fled from torture by the infiltrators. A military source described the infiltrators as “leaderless” and “scattered” along deserted border valleys and mountains, a “sign of their defeat”. “Some have died of hunger and thirst since their supply lines were cut off,” the source said. The Saudi Air Force has continued to target abandoned sites believed to be serving as infiltrator hide-outs east of Mt. Dokhan and Mt. Doud, destroying a turret position reportedly used by infiltrators to give orders for attacks inside Saudi territory. The mountains of Razeh and Shaha where infiltrators have taken refuge have also been bombed, according to military sources, and new war machinery has been employed in the fighting for the first time for “greater precision targeting”. The Saudi Navy was also reported on Tuesday as having intercepted two vessels carrying foreign fighters, arms and food.
