A Houthi drone attack on Monday killed two Bahraini soldiers along the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the Bahraini military said in a statement.
The statement, carried by Bahraini state news agency BNA, said that the victims “were martyred while performing their sacred national duty to defend the southern borders of the sister Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” as part of the Arab Coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of the country’s internationally recognized government against the Iran-backed Houthis.
The Houthis deployed “attack drones” against Bahraini forces positioned along Saudi Arabia’s southern border, the statement said, noting that the attack occurred “despite the cessation of military operations between the parties to the war in Yemen.”
Bahrain’s military command says one of its officers and a soldier were killed in a drone attack by Yemeni rebels while patrolling the Yemeni-Saudi border.
Bahrain is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, which has been at war with the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen for several years. A cease-fire had largely stopped the violence, and the two sides have appeared close to a peace agreement in recent months.
Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations earlier this year in a deal brokered by China, further raising hopes for an end to the conflict in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.
“This terrorist attack was carried out by the Houthis, who sent aircraft targeting the position of the Bahraini guards on the southern border of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia despite the halt of military operations between the warring sides in Yemen,” the Bahraini military statement said.
