Saudi to continue bombing Yemen rebels: minister

AL-KHUBAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it will keep up air strikes against Yemeni rebels until they pull back from its borders, as Iran warned against regional intervention in the conflict.

"We are not going to stop the bombing until the Huthis retreat tens of kilometres (miles) inside their border," Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said on a visit to troops in the southwestern province of Jizan.

He appeared to confirm reports by Shiite Zaidi rebels that Saudi warplanes continued to pummel them inside Yemen, a week after a rebel raid into Saudi territory sparked air and ground bombardment of their positions.

Two women were killed and a child was wounded on Tuesday in a Saudi air strike on a Yemeni village near the border, said the rebels, also known as Huthis.

"The air strike hit a house, martyring two women and wounding a child," a statement on the rebel website said. Strikes also targeted a government building in the village of Shida, they said.

Prince Khaled said four Saudi soldiers were still missing but he did not comment on a Huthi video posted on the Internet of a man they said was a captured Saudi soldier.

Saudi forces have been shelling rebel positions in the 2,000-metre (6,600-foot) Jebel al-Dukhan mountain area straddling the border since last Wednesday, after the rebels killed a border guard and occupied two small villages inside Saudi territory.

It was the first overt action by Saudi forces against the Huthis since Yemen's government launched "Operation Scorched Earth" against them in the north of the country on August 11.

But security experts say the Saudis have been providing funds and intelligence to support the Yemeni military since the outset and also took part in operations before last week.

While Riyadh officially says it is only hitting the Huthis inside Saudi Arabia, foreign analysts and a Saudi advisor have said the shelling has targeted rebel positions inside northwest Yemen's Saada province.

On Monday, the advisor said the Saudi military was scaling back its shelling and that special forces teams were combing the mountainous area for remaining Huthi fighters, after capturing "hundreds" of them.

Saudi Arabia would continue to go after the rebels if necessary to secure the country's borders, he added.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned regional powers on Tuesday against intervention in Yemen -- without identifying Saudi Arabia by name.

"Countries of the region must seriously hold back from intervening in Yemen's internal affairs. Those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows," Mottaki said.

Yemen, which has accused Iran of supporting the rebels, announced in October that it had captured five Iranians attempting to smuggle a boatload of weapons to them.

Tehran denies helping the rebels, and a Saudi source has told AFP there is no evidence of active Iranian involvement.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency in Geneva revealed that the number of people displaced or affected by fighting between rebels and government forces had climbed to 175,000 since 2004, when the conflict first broke out.

"We now estimate some 175,000 people have been affected by the conflict since 2004, including those displaced by the latest fighting," said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

Earlier this year the UNHCR put the numbers of those displaced or affected at 150,000.