Mortar shells and Katyusha missiles fired by Houthi rebels across the Yemeni border have hit a field hospital, school, cars and houses in the town of Najran, the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Assiri, coalition spokesman, said there were no casualties in the town. However, there were injuries reported at the field hospital.
Saudi Airlines has now suspended its operations to Najran until further notice. Director of Education in Najran Nasser Al-Manea visited the school affected by the shells, and later the department tweeted that the education minister had suspended all classes in the region. The department is now looking at ways to hold examinations.
“Air and ground forces will respond in the right way to these hazardous acts and will not allow them to be repeated,” Al-Assiri told Saudi TV.
The Saudi military had already deployed Apache combat helicopters to target the rebels in the border area.
He said that this type of attack had been expected, and was a reaction to attempts by the coalition to suspend military operations until humanitarian assistance could be delivered to the Yemeni people.
The Houthis had refused to abide by UN Resolution 2216 to lay down their arms, which showed that they have “no political program” and only intend to “kill for the sake of killing,” he said.
“I would like to reassure the citizens of Najran that the situation is under control, and ground troops and the Border Guard are now doing their job in dealing with the source of the fire and the elimination of those who dare to fire across the border. The Air Force will do its duties in this regard, and will not leave this matter to pass without a response.”
