(RTTNews) - Yemen's Shiite Zaidi rebels have fought their way across the border into Saudi Arabia, where they killed a Saudi soldier and injured 11 others Tuesday.

The clashes between the armed rebels, known as Houthis, took place in the mountainous border region of Jabal al-Dukhan, the official Saudi Press Agency said Wednesday.

The rebels claimed they have taken "full control" of a section of the region. They said one of their fighters was killed when Saudi border guards opened fire across the border.

The Shiite rebels warned the Saudi authorities in an online statement not to intervene in the current "war (between rebels and Yemeni troops) and not to involve in a direct confrontation with us."
Fighting between Yemeni government forces and the rebels in Saada province, bordering Saudi Arabia, enters its fourth month with no prospect for a ceasefire.

Scores of militants, civilians, and troops were killed and around 150,000 residents displaced in military onslaught launched on August 11 on rebel bases in Saada.

Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries dominated by Sunni Muslims, is under the threat of rising secessionist sentiments in the south and tribal Shiite rebellion in the north in addition to a wave of al Qaeda attacks.

by RTT Staff Writer

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