Saudi-Yemen border clash kills 3 Saudi troops, Yemeni rebels

Yemen's Shiite rebels attacked Saudi border posts, sparking fierce fighting overnight that killed three Saudi troops and dozens of rebels, the kingdom said.
Saudi-led airstrikes continued to bomb rebel positions inside Yemen on Friday, including a strike in the capital, Sanaa, that killed at least 20 civilians.
The attack late yesterday by the rebels, known as Houthis, was the most dramatic border incident since Saudi Arabia launched an intense campaign of airstrikes against the rebels just over a month ago. It also brought to 11 the number of Saudi soldiers killed so far in border skirmishes during the air campaign.

The assault underscored how the Iran-backed Houthis are still capable of launching major operations despite the airstrikes that have relentlessly targeted their positions and those of their allies military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Saudi-led offensive, which started March 26, aims to diminish the military capabilities of the Houthis, who have overrun the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and are advancing deep into the country's south.
The UN says at least 550 civilians have been killed so in the war, whether from airstrikes or ground fighting.

Yemen's internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country in March, is now based in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, along with most of his government. There have been recent calls by officials in exile for a Saudi-led ground invasion to restore Hadi's government to power.

"There must be a direct military intervention ... To stop Saleh and the Houthis," Yemen's Transportation Minister Mohammed Badr Bassalma told Al-Arabiya satellite TV today, speaking from Riyadh.
Also today, the UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on Yemen, following warnings by UN chief Ban Ki-moon who said the previous day that basic services in the impoverished Arab country are "on the brink of collapse." Ban also called for an immediate ceasefire, or at least humanitarian pauses to help the desperate civilians.
There have been conflicting figures on the death toll since the air campaign started. Ban's office said Thursday that more than 1,200 people have been killed in the conflict, which has turned into a kind of proxy war between Yemen's powerful neighbor Saudi Arabia and Iran. Many of those dead have been civilians. Hadi's government in exile says at least 1,000 civilians have died.