Two warships have joined the battle against infiltrators combing an area of 200 nautical miles from Al-Musim up to the territorial waters of the Kingdom on the Red Sea, a Saudi naval force official said. The two warships, Hitain and Badr, named after two battles the Prophet (peace be upon him) fought, have started cruising the territorial waters as part of the Strangling Belt Operation launched by Saudi forces last week to cut the supply of food and arms to infiltrators. The warships are equipped with missiles, 75mm guns, anti-submarine weapons, and sophisticated radar for precise targeting, said Col. Muaed Al-Shumrani, chief of Saudi Naval Forces in Jizan. The two warships feature jet boats cruising at a speed of up to 27 knots for water surface combat, equipped with 75 mm guns, enhancing the naval force engaged in blocking the sea route to infiltrators, he said. The Saudi Navy has foiled a number of arms smuggling operations at sea and destroyed four boats which failed to heed warnings when military clashes with the infiltrators began, he added. More warships from the Western Fleet are expected to support warships already cruising in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea. The Saudi Navy is in full control of its territorial waters, Al-Shumrani said. Saudi forces Tuesday planted the nation's flag on Mount Dowd, while Apache helicopters bombed arms caches on the same mountain. Fleeing infilitrators were seeing taking shelter in SaBakhya village and villages one kilometer away in Yemen.
