RIYADH — Saudi ground forces thwarted Houthi attempts to infiltrate into the Kingdom through the border city of Jazan, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Saturday. The news comes a day after talks aimed at resolving the Yemeni conflict ended in Geneva without reaching any agreement. UN Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a press conference after the talks that he has a new plan pending consultation between the parties. He said negotiations, which take place under the auspices of the United Nation, should obviously have the world community resolutions as their reference, citing the UN Security Council resolution No. 2216, which called on Houthis to withdraw from cities and allow humanitarian assistance to the needy. Yemen's foreign minister Riyad Yassin said no date for the new talks was fixed, confirming that his government was hoping to reach a constant truce and not a temporary one but the procrastination of the Houthi rebels and the allies came as an obstacle. Several infiltration attempts by Houthis and its allied fighters have been made during the last couple of months. Last week, Saudi Special Forces engaged in violent clashes with armed Houthis at the border areas of Khoba, Jabal Al-Dukhan and Jabal Rumaih in Jazan. Saudi forces thwarted Houthi attempts to infiltrate the Saudi border. Apache helicopters carried out air operations to stop the attempts to infiltrate the Saudi border and bombed clusters of armed Houthi fighters. During an earlier infiltration attempt, a number of mortar and RPG missiles targeted the area surrounding the Saudi military sites in Jazan, while a number of Katyusha rockets were fired on Jazan, targeting residential areas in the centre of the city. — SG
