Saudi Air Force on Monday bombed areas in Najran region along the border with Yemen suspected of harboring armed infiltrators. The jet fighters bombed locations on Mount Mufijah and Mount Lajem near the Southern Belt Monday noon. The infiltrators have moved eastwards along the mountainous border after intensive bombardment and airstrikes on their strongholds in Mount Dokhan and Mount Rumaih. Saudi forces, the Ministry of Defense said, have total control over them. The residents of these Najran border villages were not ordered to evacuate, said Maj. Ali Al-Shahrani, spokesman of the Najran Civil Defense. Tribal chiefs and their men stormed out of their homes with arms to protect the border area, said Faris Al-Haiydar, a Najran tribal chief. “We will not allow any incursion on our land,” he said. Meanwhile, as bombardments continued of areas harboring infiltrators in the Jizan mountains along the border with Yemen, border guards made arrests at the border village of Ghawiyah as infiltrators tried to steal food supplies from shops. The “Strangling Operation” that Saudi forces launched against infiltrators last week aimed to deprive them of food and arms supplies. Citizens in the region captured at least 20 African men and one Yemeni woman around Mount Habs. It was discovered that the infiltrators had used them as human shields.
