A Yemeni government-in-exile soldier opens fire, killing two Saudi soldiers and wounding another

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A soldier from Yemen’s government-in-exile opened fire on Saudi troops as they exercised in eastern Yemen, killing two of them and wounding another in a rare insider attack during the kingdom’s nearly decade-long war there, officials said Saturday.

The attack in the eastern province of Hadramawt comes as a years-long ceasefire between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels has largely held despite continued attacks by the militants on ships in the Red Sea corridor. While the Houthis did not claim credit for the attack, at least one Houthi official praised it as “the beginning and indication of a harsh future that lies ahead for the invaders.”

Meanwhile, the Houthis claimed there had been renewed airstrikes on the rebel-held capital Sanaa, likely carried out by the United States, after the militants likely shot down another American reconnaissance drone over the country.

The attack occurred on Friday evening in Seiyun, a city about 500 kilometers east of Sanaa. While troops were training at a Saudi-run base there, the soldier opened fire, killing an officer and a non-commissioned officer, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said, citing a military statement.

“The Joint Forces Command underlines that this cowardly attack by the ‘Lone Wolf’ does not represent the honorable members of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense,” the statement continued. The dead and other wounded Saudi soldiers were returned to the kingdom, it said.

Aidarous al-Zubaidi, chairman of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, identified the soldier who carried out the attack as a member of the First Military Region, based in Seiyun.

Police in the area released images of the soldier and said a reward of 30 million Yemeni riyals was being offered for information leading to the soldier’s arrest. It’s worth about $15,000 on the black market.

Authorities gave no motive for the attack. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant group’s Yemeni branch, has long operated near Hadramawt. However, the group did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. A recent United Nations expert report said the al-Qaeda group and the Houthis have begun “coordinating operations directly with each other.”

The Houthis also did not claim responsibility for the attack. However, Houthi official Hamid Rizq praised the attack in a message on social platform

“The heroic operation is the beginning and an indication of a harsh future that lies ahead for the invaders,” Rizq wrote.

Yemen has been mired in a decades-long war since the Houthis invaded Sanaa from their northern strongholds in September 2014. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015 on behalf of the Yemeni government-in-exile. The war became further internationalized, with Iran providing the Houthis with weapons and support that cemented the conflict into a years-long stalemate.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians, and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. However, a ceasefire that expired in October 2022 has largely held since then, even as the Houthis have seized on the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

On Saturday evening, Houthi-run media reported suspected US airstrikes on areas around Sanaa. The rebels did not provide an immediate damage assessment of the attacks, which previously targeted radar stations, military bases and drone and missile launch sites.

The airstrikes continued until Sunday morning, the Houthis said.

___

Associated Press writer Baraa Anwer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia contributed to this report.