“Women and children were among the 14 people killed when Saudi air strikes targeted several areas of north Yemen,” the Zaidi rebels, also known as Huthis, said in a statement on the Internet.
It added that on Wednesday alone Saudi artillery had fired more than 620 shells.
On January 25, rebel chief Abdul Malak Al Houthi said his men had withdrawn from the last positions they occupied inside Saudi Arabia after nearly three months of clashes. Riyadh said they had been chased out of its territory.
Clashes between Saudi forces and the Zaidis — the target of an all-out offensive launched by the Sana’a government last August — broke out after a Saudi border guard was killed by rebel infiltrators on November 3. Yemen’s interior ministry said on its Internet website yesterday that one rebel was killed in a clash with armed tribesmen in Al-Jawf province bordering Saada province, heartland of the rebellion.
On Tuesday, the defence ministry website 26sep.net said at least 16 rebels, including senior members, were killed in separate clashes across Saada province.
The fighting came despite the Zaidis pledging on Tuesday not to attack Saudi Arabia — a key condition laid down by the Sana’a government to end its campaign against them.
