Fighting partly destroys Yemeni-Saudi border crossing - witnesses

[bemildred]

Saudi forces and Yemen's Houthi militia traded heavy artillery fire which blew up part of the main border crossing between the two countries overnight, residents said on Sunday, an escalation of the two-month war.

The Haradh border crossing, the largest for passengers and goods between the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and its impoverished neighbor, was evacuated amid shelling which razed its departure lounge and passport section, witnesses said.

Residents of several Yemeni villages in the area left their homes and fled from the frontier, which has turned into a front line between the kingdom and the Iran-allied rebels.

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition bombing the Houthis and backing southern Yemeni fighters opposing the group and loyal to the exiled government in Saudi Arabia headed by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/24/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN0O904A20150524

[bemildred]

1. Houthis Seize Unused Missiles From Saudi Jet Downed in Yemen - Reports

Unused missiles reportedly have fallen in the hands of Houthi rebels in Yemen after a Saudi jet fighter was downed on the outskirts of the capital, Sanaa.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Two unused missiles have fallen in the hands of Houthi rebels in Yemen after a Saudi F-16 jet was shot down on the outskirts of the capital, Sanaa, the Yemen Post newspaper reports.

Houthis have sent hundreds of militants to the site of the downed aircraft in search of the pilot, who is still missing, the newspaper said on its official Twitter page in the early hours of Sunday.

The newspaper reports the plane to be a US-made F-16, although the Royal Saudi Air Force is not equipped with such planes. The Air Force's inventory does include F-15s, and the fuel tank photographed among the wreckage may belong to this plane.

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150524/1022501320.html

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Im sure the US is bombing right along with the Saudi's.

The US at a minimum is providing satellite and other real time intel. Likely air strikes too.

[bemildred]

4. It's sort of a reflex, I think, automatic, bombing something when things go bad. nt

[bemildred]

2. Saudi chickens

In an unfortunate and tragic development, an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber struck a Shia mosque in al-Qadeeh village in eastern Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Shia region. The blast targeted more than 150 worshippers offering their Friday prayers. The death toll was 21, injured over 90. Few escaped the carnage unscathed. One of the deadliest attacks in Saudi Arabia, it is also the first claimed by IS on Saudi soil. Sectarian tensions had already frayed as a result of the almost two month long Saudi-led bombing campaign in neighbouring Yemen against the rebel Houthis and their allies. This incident is likely to make that even worse. IS said in a statement that one of its suicide bombers, Abu Ammar al-Najdi, carried out the attack with an explosives-laden belt that killed or wounded 250 people. It vowed not to rest until all Shias, whom it considers heretics, are expelled from the Arabian Peninsula. In November last year, IS leader and self-styled caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had called for attacks on the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, which has declared IS a terrorist organisation, joined international airstrikes against it, and mobilised the clergy to denounce it. Last week al-Baghdadi issued another speech laden with derogatory comments about both the Saudi leadership and the Shia minority. Shias were targeted in November last year when gunmen fired at a religious celebration in al-Ahsa, again in the preponderantly Shia eastern part of Saudi Arabia. Last month, Saudi Arabia was on high alert for possible attacks on oil installations, shopping malls, etc. Condemnation of the latest IS atrocity was heard from Hezbollah of Lebanon and Iran, but both placed the responsibility for the attack squarely on the Saudi leadership and its policies. Pakistan’s prime minister, president and foreign office also condemned it, as did UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/24-May-2015/saudi-chickens