This photo shows an army tank being transported, in the city of Najran, Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen, Thursday, April 23, 2015. In a stunning development, Saudi Arabia had declared on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 that it was halting coalition airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels known as Houthis — a four-week air campaign meant to halt the rebel power grab and help return to office embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a close U.S. ally who fled Yemen.

Saudi Arabia suspended schools in the southern town of Najran on Tuesday where Iran-backed Houthi militias fired at the city from Yemen, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

At least two civilians were killed in the attack while five Saudi soldiers were captured by the Houthi militants, the Associated Press reported quoting tribal leaders who chose to be unnamed.

“The Houthi militias have targeted the border region in Najran with mortars,” Brigadier-General Ahmed al Asiri, spokesman for a Saudi-led coalition waging a mostly air campaign against the Houthis, confirmed the incident in comments carried by al Ekhbariyah state television.

The attack showed that the Houthis have refused to accept a United Nations Security Council resolution passed in April mapping a plan to violence in the embattled country, Asiri later told Al Arabiya News.

“The armed forces are carrying out their duties in confronting the aggression by the Houthis and today’s action will not pass without retaliation,” he added.

Witnesses in Yemen told Reuters news agency that Saudi forces have shelled the Yemeni side of the border after the Shiite militia fired several rounds towards Saudi territories.

The Al-Ekhbariya television showed images of parked cars with windows blown out, chunks torn out of the sidewalk, a building peppered with shrapnel, and one room completely charred and with a hole in the roof.

Separately, Saudi Airlines said in a statement on Twitter that it had suspended all flights from and to Najran “today until further notice.”

[wpResize]

Related articles across the web

• Houthis vow resistance as Saudis claim 80% of priority targets in Yemen destroyed
• Rebels in Yemen Slam U.N. Resolution Imposing Arms Embargo; Say it Will Increase Violence
• UN Imposes Arms Embargo on Yemen's Houthis
• Houthi spokesman calls for complete end to air strikes
• Houthis vow resistance
• WH: No War Powers Request to Congress As It Sends Aircraft Carrier to Yemen
• Patience has limits
• Saudi ambassador to US: Operation Renewal of Hope focuses on political process, addresses any aggressive moves by Houthi militia 4 Washington
• Large explosions rock Yemen capital