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Yemen accuses Hezbollah of supporting Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia

By Andrew V. Pestano
The Yemeni government accused Lebanon-based Hezbollah on Wednesday of helping Houthi rebels, pictured, carry out cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia. Last week, Saudi Arabia canceled $3 billion in pledged military aid, blaming Hezbollah's influence over Lebanese affairs. File photo by Anees Mahyoub/UPI
The Yemeni government accused Lebanon-based Hezbollah on Wednesday of helping Houthi rebels, pictured, carry out cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia. Last week, Saudi Arabia canceled $3 billion in pledged military aid, blaming Hezbollah's influence over Lebanese affairs. File photo by Anees Mahyoub/UPI | License Photo

SANAA, Yemen, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Yemeni government accused Lebanon-based Hezbollah of helping Houthi rebels carry out cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia.

The government, backed by Saudi Arabia, said it had documents and "concrete evidence" to support the allegation. Cross-border attacks from Yemen into Saudi Arabia perpetrated by Yemen's Houthi rebels have led to the death or capture of hundreds of Saudi soldiers deployed along the hills of the Yemeni-Saudi border.

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There are at least 20,000 Saudi soldiers along the 1,100-mile southern border with Yemen. The Washington Post reported thousands of mortars and crude rockets have struck schools, mosques and homes in the city of Najran, which lies a few miles away from Yemen's northern mountains.

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the evidence would be provided to the United Nations Security Council and the Arab League.

At least 50 Saudi troops were reportedly killed Wednesday in a ballistic missile attack in Yemen's northern Jawf province. PressTV reported the attack were perpetrated by Yemen's splintered army -- some of which are loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh -- backed by Houthi-loyal armed resistance groups.

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Last week, Saudi Arabia canceled $3 billion in pledged military aid, blaming Hezbollah's influence over Lebanese affairs.

More than 6,000 people have died, nearly half of them civilians, since a pro-government coalition led by Saudi Arabia began a military campaign against Houthi rebels in March after the rebels seized the city of Sanaa and began to advance to Aden to overthrow the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

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