JIZAN/JEDDAH – Saudi forces further tightened their grip on the border with Yemen Monday after sporadic air shelling and artillery bombardment of areas suspected of harboring infiltrators from the foot of Dokhan, Ariydah, Ramih, and Rida mountains to the Mashnaq region Sunday night.

Saudi Apache fighter jets took part for the first time in Sunday night’s air raids, with more planes expected to take part in future raids.

The fighter jets resumed their air raids early Monday morning around the areas east and west of the border village of Mujadah, west of Mount Dokhan, and around the Twailiq mountain chain shared by Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Shada area, northeast of Khubah, was air shelled around 3:00 A.M. Monday.

Ground troops were dispatched to Mount Al-Ariyd to prevent cross-border incursion of armed infiltrators. A group of paratroopers from the Tabuk Military Base arrived in the conflict zone Monday and is expected to take part in the clashes soon, according to military officials.

Col. Saeed Al-Amri, a Saudi army paratrooper, who went missing from the border area for a few days, returned safely with classified information Monday. His family who live in Bani Amro, 180 km north of Abha, believed that he had been killed in the clashes.

 A young infiltrator was arrested Monday while he was going through the border on his donkey posing as a refugee to join his family at the refugee camp. As he was being questioned, he pulled out a gun to fire at the troops who quickly responded by shooting him dead.

Two more infiltrators in Jarbah in Abu Aresh Governorate did not resist arrest. They were dressed in women’s clothes.

An armed infiltrator was arrested in his underwear with strange drawings on his back. He was believed to have been practising black magic on Saudi troops.

The infiltrators used animals with lamps on them to attempt to trick Saudi troops into following them.

The animals, however, were detected by infrared cameras and night vision systems. After regaining captured areas, Saudi forces scaled back their assault along the mountainous border and captured 200 or more infiltrators, a government advisor told AFP Monday.

“The heavy shelling of the area is finished,” the advisor said on condition of anonymity. “There are now tactical units deployed there. We want to make sure they (the infiltrators) are neutralized.” “In the last 48 hours, a lot of them have surrendered ... We are counting in the hundreds the infiltrators who have given themselves up,” he told AFP. – Okaz/SG