Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 16 August 2016: Exchange of heavy fire on Saudi-Yemen border, MSF hospital among targets

On Monday and Tuesday, August 15-16, several civilian objects on both sides of Saudi-Yemen border were hit by artillery and air strikes. Royal Saudi Air Force struck a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Hajja province in north-west Yemen and a residential building east of country’s capital, Sana’a. 14 and 17 people, respectively, died in the attacks. Houthi rebels have in turn fired from Yemen at Najraf on the Saudi side of the border, killing 9 people. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, condemned the hospital strike and said he was ‘deeply disturbed by the intensification of air strikes and continuing ground fighting and shelling’.

The cross-border fire between Saudi Arabia and Yemen represents the next phase of the Yemeni Civil War between the Houthi movement and forces loyal to president Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi that started in 2014. The conflict was internationalised when Saudi Arabia, which supports Hadi, intervened militarily in March 2015. A cease-fire enacted in April 2016 r. had reduced the intensity of fighting, but it broke down on August 6, leading Saudi Arabia to resume air strikes on targets in Yemen. In response, Houthi commenced artillery and missile strikes on Saudi territory and conducted several cross-border raids.

The Yemen conflict has become a part of a Saudi-Iranian proxy war and the Saudi side claims that Iranian-made Zelzal missiles were used in Najran attacks. Houthis are largely of Zaidi background (Zaidism being and offshoot of Shi’a Islam), receive aid from Shi’a Iran and are allied with forces loyal to the ousted president, Ali Adb Allah Salih. Fears over increasing Iranian influence in Yemen were the main reason behind Saudi decision to intervene militarily.