Saudi civilian killed in shelling on Yemen border

Riyadh

Shelling from Yemen killed a civilian Sunday across the border in Saudi Arabia, which has been leading air strikes against Shiite rebels in the war-torn country, a civil defence spokesman said.

The civilian died when a projectile hit his house in the Saudi city of Najran before dawn. It had been fired from an area of northern Yemen under the control of Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the spokesman was quoted as saying by official Saudi news agency SPA.

At least 49 people, mostly soldiers, have been killed on the Saudi-Yemeni border since a Saudi-led military coalition launched air strikes on the Huthi rebels and their allies in Yemen on March 26.

The military campaign aims to support forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled Yemen to Saudi Arabia in late March as Huthis advanced on the southern city of Aden, threatening to take over the whole country.