War in Yemen: two soldiers killed in Saudi Arabia, a fragile truce with Houthi rebels

Two Bahraini soldiers were killed on Monday (September 25th) in southern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen. Bahrain accuses Houthi rebels of carrying out an attack on its troops. The country is engaged militarily alongside Saudi Arabia against this group that has seized power in northern Yemen. While the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have engaged in a process of negotiations, this clash is a reminder that the truce remains fragile.

Bahrain accuses Houthi rebels of carrying out an attack on its troops (illustration image). AP - Hani Mohammed

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Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (September 26th) condemned the attack that killed two Bahraini soldiers on its border with war-torn Yemen. The Saudi Foreign Ministry has "condemned and denounced the treacherous attack on the forces of the Kingdom of Bahrain," the official Saudi Press Agency SPA reported Tuesday.

For Bahrain, it is a "heinous terrorist act" blamed on the Houthis: a drone attack on some of its military positions in Saudi territory, says Manama, the country that is part of the international coalition set up by Saudi Arabia to fight Yemeni rebels. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the attack. And their television channel, for its part, announced Saudi bombings in the province of Saada, on the border with Saudi Arabia. Several localities were reportedly targeted, according to the Al Masirah television channel, which announced a death toll of four wounded.

Tensions that remain despite negotiations

Bahrain denounces an attack carried out "despite the cessation of military operations between the warring parties in Yemen". Because if officially, the last ceasefire has not been renewed, for a year and a half, the country has experienced a relative lull. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have begun negotiations that have already resulted in a prisoner exchange. A Saudi delegation visited Sana'a, the Yemeni capital. And Houthi negotiators spent five days in Riyadh in mid-September. The talks were described as "positive" by both sides. But no tangible progress has been announced. And on the ground, the tension remains.

The war in Yemen, triggered after rebels captured the capital Sanaa in 2014, has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced, according to the UN. The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula has seen a relative lull since a UN-brokered truce that came into effect in April 2022, although it was not officially renewed when it expired in October last year.

" READ ALSO Yemen: after eight years of war, the life still precarious of the displaced

(

And with AFP)

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• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia
• Bahrain
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• Diplomacy