Saudi forces, Yemen’s Houthis trade heavy fire, border crossing hit

CAIRO — Saudi forces and Yemen's Houthi militia traded heavy artillery fire which destroyed part of the main border crossing between the two countries overnight, residents said on Sunday, an escalation of the two-month war.

The Haradh border crossing, the largest for people and goods between the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and its impoverished neighbour, was evacuated amid shelling which razed its departure lounge and passport section, witnesses said.

Residents of several Yemeni villages in the area left their homes and fled from the frontier, which has turned into a front line between the kingdom and the Iran-allied rebels.

Arab air raids hit military bases and weapon stores in the capital Sanaa, and local officials said a mid-level Houthi commander, Abu Bassam Al Kibsi, was killed in an air strike in the central province of Raymah.

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition bombing the Houthis and backing southern Yemeni fighters opposing the group and loyal to the exiled government in Saudi Arabia headed by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The Sunni Muslim states believe the Shiite Houthis are a proxy for influence by Iran, but their campaign has yet to reverse the rebels' battlefield gains.

Local fighters combating the Houthis in Yemen's south reported Saudi-led air strikes on a major airbase controlled by the group in Lahj province and say they killed eight Houthi fighters in an ambush in Dalea province on Sunday.

Residents in the central city of Taiz said Houthi forces and pro-Hadi fighters fired tank and artillery shells at each other throughout the city overnight, killing five civilians.

The Houthis seized control of a military base on a strategic mountaintop in the centre of the city, eyewitnesses said.

A United Nations-backed peace conference set for May 28 in Geneva remains in doubt, as Hadi's exiled government in Saudi Arabia has expressed reluctance to attend before the Houthis recognise their authority and quit Yemen's main cities.

The Houthis have demanded a ceasefire before any talks.