Jazan Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Nasser visiting an injured Border Guard at Samitah General Hospital on Friday. (AN photo)

JAZAN: Saudi Arabia is determined to protect its borders and deter infiltrators from entering the Kingdom, said an official source on Friday in light of the recent entry of Yemeni rebels into the rugged mountainous regions of the south of the Kingdom.

“The entry of the infiltrators into Saudi territories, the killing and wounding of Border Guards as well as the infiltrators’ presence on Saudi soil are violations of the Kingdom’s sovereignty giving it every right to take measures to end this illegitimate presence,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the official source as saying on Friday morning.

“Operations will therefore continue until all locations within Saudi territories have been completely and fully cleared of hostile elements. We will also take all necessary precautions to prevent any similar incident from taking place in future,” he added.

The source said that the Saudi authorities were able to bring an end to firing in the region, establish control over infiltrator positions, and evacuate local people to safer locations.

“The Saudi Armed Forces have supported the Border Guards with a number of armed units and they have been making concentrated airstrikes on the infiltrators’ positions in Jabal Dukhan as well as other targets within the area of operations inside Saudi territories,” the source said.

Houthi positions in Jabal Dukhan and other mountains close-by within Saudi borders were bombed by air and artillery as part of operations against the infiltrators at 2 p.m. on Friday, said another source.

“While 50 rebels were killed 40 of them surrendered, and many more have been arrested since the operations began,” the source said.

The evacuated people said many rebels were rounded up in a flushing-out operation later in the day and they said that over 1,000 were arrested.

In another development on Friday, Jazan Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Nasser visited injured Border Guards admitted to Samitah General Hospital.

The prince visited villages in Al-Khoba where armed infiltrators entered Saudi territory and inspected the activities of the governmental, security and medical departments there. He also visited the shelters for those evacuated.

The governor ordered arrangements to ensure speedy evacuation of border villages in the Al-Harth region in the event of any escalation in violence.

Some residents in the border region told Arab News they heard sounds of gunshots from various points in the border.

Meanwhile, Muhsin Al-Tabaiqi, director general of the Health Department in Jazan, told Arab News that by Friday afternoon 58 injured people had been treated.

“Their injuries were mostly broken bones and cuts. Some of the serious cases needed operation. Five cases of death, including that of a Border Guard and four civilian women have been handled by the hospitals so far,” he said.

Twenty injured people were rushed to the Samitah Hospital on Friday evening bringing the total number of injured men to 78, a hospital source added.

Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh on Friday condemned the infiltration by Yemeni rebels.