Yemeni Shia fighters say they have been targeted with successive missile barrages by Saudi Arabia's fighter jets. The Houthi fighters said the aircraft, which have recently joined armed campaign against the Shias, have advanced as far as five kilometers from the Saudi-Yemeni common border into the northwestern province of Sa'ada DPA reported.
The warplanes pounded the Kamama and Ghafira of Sa'ada's Haidan district as well as Dhahir al-Humair mountain on Saturday, the fighters said.
The German news agency quoted them as saying that other invaded areas in the province, al-Malahid, Shada and al-Hasama, had been hit by around 150 air-to-surface Sa'ada has been under large-scale aerial and artillery bombardments by government forces since early August.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) estimates 175,000 people to have been rendered homeless since 2004, when the government started attacking the Shia fighters accusing them of seeking to restore the Shia Zaidi imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The fighters, on the other hand, claim the government has launched into a marginalization campaign against them under the aegis of Riyadh-backed Wahhabi extremists.
The Saudi military assistance started on November 4 on claims that Houthis had penetrated 'Saudi territory.' The fighters say the Saudis have started shelling their villages with illegal phosphorous bombs, which are capable of inflicting severe burns.