Nine-year-old Yahya didn’t know that he would be suddenly robbed of his life nor did his brother Mahdi, aged 3, that he would be hit by a shrapnel and land in hospital.

The two boys were playing one Saturday morning recently when a rocket fired by the Houthis fell at the residence of a member of the Al-Abbas tribe in Al-Hudn village, near the Yemeni mountains. Three Pakistani workers were also injured.

A medical source in Najran province said Yahya was admitted to Najran General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment and joined the list of the nation’s martyrs. The emergency ward of the King Khalid Hospital admitted Mahdi and a Pakistani expatriate.

Mahdi, who was hit in the face by a shrapnel is in a stable condition, and is under observation. The Pakistani’s injuries were serious and he had to be operated upon.

According to statistics issued by the Civil Defense, the number of casualties in Najran during the past 10 days reached 10, including five citizens. Fourteen people were injured.

The Iran-backed Houthi militias have been targeting civilian area, including schools, ever since the Saud-led Operation Decisive Storm was launched in March last year to restore the legitimate government in Yemen.

During the first week of the campaign, three Katyusha rockets were fired by Houthis on a girls’ school in Al-Diyafa neighborhood, which injured three girls. The attacks continued, with another shelling claiming the lives of Reem bint Hussein Al- Mansour and her child Faisal bin Anwar Al-Mreih, who was only three months old.

Mutlaq Al-Inizi, father of an injured child, said his four-year-old son Miteb was playing in his room when their house in Al-Areesa neighborhood in Najran was hit by a shell from Yemeni territory. His son was hit in the head and was taken to King Khalid hospital. He survived the injury but is in shock since then, he said.

Abdullah Al-Qrawsh Al-Salah’s arm has been amputated and his intestines, pancreas and left kidney were removed as a result of a Houthi rocket that hit his house in Al-Shrufa neighborhood.

Saudi forces guarding the southern borders have been successfully fighting the Houthis while also thwarting infiltration attempts by them. A source said that Saudi artillery dealt a heavy blow to the Houthis and forces loyal to the deposed Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. “An arms’ store has been destroyed, and a number of mobile targets have been hit by F15 airplanes. An Apache helicopter destroyed a platform for launching shells.”

Capt. Mohammed Al-Omari, official spokesman of the National Guards, said Cpl. Ali bin Abeid Al-Nteifat died in Najran while fighting the enemy.

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