Saudi forces carried out strikes on 30 armed infiltrators attempting to take areas of Ka'ab Jaber Mountain to the north of Mt. Dokhan at dawn on Sunday. Sources at the front lines said that ground artillery supported by air strikes killed possible infiltrators who were attempting to penetrate a valley leading to areas where the Saudi military was present. The sources said that Saudi forces and paratroopers were continuing their advancement to pursue infiltrators who have reportedly suffered “heavy” losses and have had their supply lines cut off, all of which has led to a “drop in morale” and a “retreat to rear positions in border areas.” Yemen denies US involvement The Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi, has meanwhile denied any US involvement in Thursday's military operations in Yemen against Al-Qaeda targets. Speaking for the first time since the attacks in which 34 Al-Qaeda members were killed and 17 arrested, Al-Qirbi gave no further details on the number of Saudi nationals among the Al-Qaeda members targeted, but said that members “had no way forward other than to hand themselves over to the authorities”. “The operations were the result of detailed intelligence work and cooperation from the public who have become an indispensable part of the government fight against terrorist groups,” Al-Qirbi told Okaz. “The operations showed that Yemen is fully capable of combating terrorism with its brothers in the Kingdom and the international community,” Al-Qirbi said. Reports of US involvement in the operations, according to Al-Qirbi, were the “usual attempt to distort the truth of work carried out by the armed forces and security services”. “As you know, there is security cooperation between Yemen and the US in terms of training and support in terms of weapons, communications and equipment in our country,” he said. Forced to intervene Al-Qirbi expressed his “deep regret” for the loss of any innocent lives following reports that civilians, among them women and children, were killed during the strikes. “Those people are innocent and the terrorists have incorporated themselves among them or used them as human shields to avoid being attacked by security forces,” Al-Qirbi said. “This has held up government operations against terrorists as it seeks to avoid loss of civilian life, but as plans for imminent terrorist acts became clear security forces were forced to intervene and strike the terrorists.” Al-Qirbi cited targeted facilities as “foreign embassies and businesses”. The minister said he had not had the opportunity to inspect details of individuals killed or injured having only returned from abroad on Saturday. Concerning reports in Yemen that the Abyan Al-Qaeda cell was involved in last August's failed assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, the Saudi Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, Al-Qirbi said there “is no precise information in that regard”. The Yemeni foreign minister added that the six Yemeni Guantanamo inmates due to be sent back by the US would arrive “within the next few days”. “Yemen has a rehabilitation program, but not to the same extent as the Kingdom's, as we don't have the same resources, but security services will investigate the six returnees, and if there is proof that they have not been involved in acts of terrorism or any criminal activity then they will be released with the families as guarantors,” Al-Qirbi said. Al-Qirbi went on to say that the security of Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was “inseparable”, and that the full cooperation existing between the two countries was “born out of the responsibility each country has to the other”.
