 At least 240 villages have been evacuated in southwestern Saudi Arabia due to fighting between Saudi forces and Yemeni rebels along the border, the UN children's fund (Unicef) has said. Unicef, citing contacts in Saudi Arabia on Friday, said more than 50 schools have also been closed in the country, after fighting between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen's north spilled over into Saudi Arabia last week. "Unicef is deeply concerned about the escalation of the conflict in northern Yemen," Sigrid Kaag, the Unicef regional director for the Middle East, said in a statement. "Fighting has now spilled over into Saudi Arabia, reportedly causing 240 villages to be evacuated." Unicef said thousands of people in Yemen have also fled the fighting, with the number of displaced at a camp in Yemen's Hajjah governorate more than doubling in four weeks to 15,000 people. "Unicef urges all parties to ensure that children are protected from violence and receive all the assistance they need," Kaag said. The news came as Saudi Arabia vowed to continue its air and artillery attacks against the rebels as part of efforts to reinforce a 10km-deep buffer zone inside Yemen. The zone is designed to keep members of the Yemeni rebel group away from Saudi Arabia's southwestern border. The Houthi fighters have accused Saudi Arabia of flying over their territory and firing scores of rockets on villages. Video footage released by the fighters on Thursday allegedly contains images of Saudi missile attacks in Yemen's northern Saada province.
Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist for the Asharq Al Awsat newspaper in Saudi Arabia, said the latest video release is part of a "propaganda war" by the Houthis. "The Saudis have stated from day one that they are keen to protect their borders [and] that they are keen to create a buffer zone. These were all public announcements," he told Al Jazeera. "The activities on the Saudi-Yemeni border by the Saudis have been to clear that area from any insurgencies. "So the Saudis were doing this to defend their territories and to clear a buffer zone to protect [the country] from future attacks by the Houthis. "The Saudis have a great interest to protect that border because the Yemeni government has failed to protect that border. The Saudis had no choice but to take this severe and dynamic action against tthe Houthis immediately." Saudi Arabia launched its offensive against the Houthis, who are named after their deceased former leader, after they apparently crossed the border and seized control of a small area.
The Houthis say that the Saudis have been allowing Yemeni troops to use the area to attack their positions. But a Saudi government adviser said that there were no Saudi troops fighting on the ground inside Yemen, where the terrain is too mountainous to deploy tanks and artillery effectively. Read more,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English) 
 Yemen's Houthi fighters say they have taken control of more territory on the border with Saudi Arabia, heightening concerns about growing instability in the region. The fighters released a statement on Tuesday, saying: "Full control was taken last night over Qatabar directorate and control of all supplies and ammunition as well as buildings and other military sites." Yemeni officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Qatabar lies in the mountainous northern province of Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter. The northern province has also been the scene of most of the fighting that has taken place in recent months between Yemeni government forces and the rebels. Saudi forces have also in recent days launched military strikes against the Houthis after the fighters killed a Saudi soldier in a cross-border raid last week. Saudi officials said on Sunday that their forces had regained control of Jabal Dukhan, which was seized by the Houthi fighters. Saudi Arabia has become increasingly anxious about instability in Yemen, which is facing opposition from the Shia population in the north, separatist sentiment in the south and a growing threat from resurgent al-Qaeda fighters. The 1,500km border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia is a security worry for the kingdom, which is building a high-tech border fence to prevent infiltration. In the recent weeks, Houthi fighters have accused Saudi Arabia of allowing Yemeni forces to use its territory as a base to launch attacks against them and threatened to respond. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, said: "We are amid a campaign and a propaganda war with both sides saying they have made huge advances. "Saudi Arabia is a key player in Yemen, it has loyalty of tribal leaders, politicians and religious leaders here. Read more,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Saudi Arabia has regained control of an area of territory seized by Yemeni rebels in an incursion last week, a senior defence official in the kingdom has said.
Saudi Arabia began air raids and artillery bombardments against the Houthi group after its fighters crossed from northern Yemen and reportedly took control of the area called Jebel al-Dukhan.
"The situation is calm ... especially in Jebel al-Dukhan, of which full control has been regained," Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, the assistant minister for defence and aviation, said on Saturday, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
However, there were reports that air raids along the border were continuing on Sunday. Theodore Karasik, an analyst at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said that it was likely that the apparent success of the Saudi action was only a "temporary reprieve". "The Saudis have been able to push back the rebels but they are going to continue to have problems with the rebels if the Yemeni army is indeed using the southern part of Saudi Arabia for operations and for supply lines," he told Al Jazeera from Dubai. "The government in Riyadh is working closely, or wants to work closely with the the government in Saana to arrest this problem. "This draws them closer together, but from the point of view of the rebels, and also from al-Qaeda, it means they become apostates and they will go after them more."
Prince Khaled was reported as saying that three members of the Saudi security forces had been killed and 15 wounded in the fighting along the Saudi-Yemeni border. He also acknowledged that four Saudi soldiers were missing following the five days of fighting, but dismissed claims that anyone had been captured. Mohammed Abdel-Salam, a spokesman for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera on Friday that the men were seized after Saudi ground forces crossed into Yemeni territory. The group has tried to prove that Saudi troops had crossed over the border by releasing video footage purportedly showing the Saudi military in Yemeni territory.
But Prince Khaled said that Saudi Arabia "has not, and will not interfere inside Yemeni borders".
Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist for Asharq Al Awsat newspaper in Saudi Arabia, said that the conflict along the border has been escalating for some time. "We have seen a lot of drug-trafficking taking place, human-trafficking taking place, al-Qaeda members infiltrating the borders, an assassination attempt on the deputy interior minister - all these came through Yemen," he told Al Jazeera from Jeddah. "The Saudis had to take a stand, had to take a very aggressive stand, since the Houthi aggression is not a very benign one, it is not a Yemeni one any more." Read more here,,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Anti-government fighters in northern Yemen claim to have captured a number of Saudi soldiers, amid reports of the kingdom's increasing involvement in the conflict.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, a spokesman for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera on Friday that the men were seized after Saudi ground forces crossed into Yemeni territory.
"We will carry out interviews with them ... they will be treated with respect," he said.
Abdel-Salam urged Riyadh to end the "unjust Saudi aggression" and to stop Yemeni forces from using bases inside Saudi territory to attack the Houthis. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the claim, but has previously said that its operations against the Yemeni fighters have been limited to air raids and artillery strikes. The Yemeni government accuses the Houthis of seeking to restore an imamate overthrown in a 1962 coup that sparked eight years of civil war. The Houthis insist they are fighting to defend their community against government aggression and marginalisation. The Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday that the kingdom's attacks were "focused on infiltrators in Jabal Dukhan and other targets within the range of operations within Saudi territory".
"The entry of the gunmen to Saudi territory, the aggression against border patrols ... and presence on Saudi soil is a violation of sovereignty that gives the kingdom every right to take all measures to end this illegitimate presence," it said, citing an official source. Saudi government officials said on Thursday that at least 40 Houthi fighters had been killed as Saudi forces recaptured an area close to the border which had been seized by the Yemeni group.
At least one member of the Saudi security forces was killed and 11 others injured as the Houthis crossed the border. Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Pakistani jets pounded militant hide-outs along the Afghan border and killed at least nine guerrillas, intelligence officials said Wednesday, part of a stepped-up campaign of airstrikes before an expected government offensive in South Waziristan. Government officials have been threatening an operation in the lawless border area for months, but a string of recent suicide bombings blamed on the Taliban appeared to have strengthened their resolve to engage in what will likely be a long and bloody confrontation. Military jets have been hitting suspected Taliban strongholds in the region for weeks. The airstrikes have grown more frequent in recent days in what appears to be an effort to soften up the militants ahead of a ground assault. The military launched a new wave of air attacks across the militant heartland late Tuesday and early Wednesday, hitting at least five different areas, two intelligence officials said.
One attack on a hide-out in Makeen killed three insurgents, and another in Barwand killed six, they said. Meanwhile, forces in an army camp in Razmak shelled militant positions in the surrounding mountains, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Independent confirmation of the attacks was not available. The army has barred reporters from the region. Pakistan has been hit by four major terrorist attacks over the last nine days, including a suicide bombing of a U.N. office in the capital, Islamabad, and a 22-hour siege over the weekend of the army's headquarters just outside the capital. Read more here,,,, Source: Asharq Alawsat
 At least 60 people are thought to have been killed in northern Afghanistan after a Nato raid hit two hijacked petrol lorries. Gulam Mohyuddin, the local chief of police, said on Friday that the air raid had hit the tankers in Kunduz province, near the Tajikistan border. James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said members of the Taliban had hijacked the lorries, travelling from Tajikistan, and taken them to the district of Aliabad. "The Taliban there said 'help yourself' to the village, and a large crowd appeared," Bays said. "It appears that then the US launched a bombing mission to bomb those trucks." Jon Stock, press officer for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said: "I can confirm that there was an air strike last night or early this morning." "Isaf's target in the air raid was insurgents," he said. Mohammad Omar, the Kunduz governor, said that many Taliban fighters were killed in the attack, including a senior Taliban commander. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said that as many as 90 civilians, who had come out to take the fuel from the lorries, had been killed in the attack. He confirmed that the two lorries had been hijacked, but said that only one was hit in the air raid after the other got stuck in the mud in Aliabad district and was abandoned. An Al Jazeera producer in Kunduz province said that he had seen at least 50 injured people in a local hospital, all burn-victims, and all of them said they had lost family in the incident. "My brother was burnt when the aircraft bombed the fuel tankers. I don't know whether he is dead or alive," one villager said outside the hospital. Our correspondent said: "If these reports are confirmed, this will be a definite blow to General [Stanley] McChrystal, the US and Nato army commander in Afghanistan, who has urged US forces to avoid civilian causalities where at all possible." Source: Al Jazeera (English)
May 20ISRAELI air force jets have staged a series of strikes on the Gaza Strip after militants fired a rocket into the yard of a house in the southern city of Sderot, Palestinians and medical sources say.Israeli planes bombed the area six times on Tuesday, targeting underground tunnels used to smuggle goods into the besieged territory. In other raids they targeted armed men belonging to Hamas, according to the Islamist group.
Israel says Gaza militants use tunnels under the Egyptian border to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli planes also attacked two metal workshops in Gaza, injuring two people, according to emergency services. The Israeli army says the two workshops were used to make rockets.
Israeli defence forces confirmed the attacks on the tunnels.
The rocket fired earlier on Tuesday caused some damage to the yard of the house in Sderot, an Israeli city a few kilometres from the Gaza border which is regularly targeted by Palestinian rocket fire.
The Israeli military says militants have fired more than 200 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel since the January 18 end of the 22-day military offensive against Gaza which Israel says targeted Hamas, the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the operation, according to Palestinian data, while 13 Israelis were killed.
Since the end of the war, Israel has launched several air raids in response to rocket fire from Gaza.
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At least 240 villages have been evacuated in southwestern Saudi Arabia due to fighting between Saudi forces and Yemeni rebels along the border, the UN children's fund (Unicef) has said. 
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