Saudi Arabian city of Najran hit by mortars; flights, schools suspended

May 6, 2015

Jeddah, May 6: Mortar shells and Katyusha missiles fired by Houthi rebels across the Yemeni border have hit a field hospital, school, cars and houses in the town of Najran, the Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Assiri, coalition spokesman, said there were no casualties in the town. However, there were injuries reported at the field hospital.

Saudi Airlines has now suspended its operations to Najran until further notice. Director of Education in Najran Nasser Al-Manea visited the school affected by the shells, and later the department tweeted that the education minister had suspended all classes in the region. The department is now looking at ways to hold examinations.

“Air and ground forces will respond in the right way to these hazardous acts and will not allow them to be repeated,” Al-Assiri told Saudi TV.

The Saudi military had already deployed Apache combat helicopters to target the rebels in the border area.

He said that this type of attack had been expected, and was a reaction to attempts by the coalition to suspend military operations until humanitarian assistance could be delivered to the Yemeni people.

The Houthis had refused to abide by UN Resolution 2216 to lay down their arms, which showed that they have “no political program” and only intend to “kill for the sake of killing,” he said.

“I would like to reassure the citizens of Najran that the situation is under control, and ground troops and the Border Guard are now doing their job in dealing with the source of the fire and the elimination of those who dare to fire across the border. The Air Force will do its duties in this regard, and will not leave this matter to pass without a response.”

He said this is not a significant threat because the Saudi-Yemen border area is rugged mountainous terrain, “which allows for a few infiltrators with one mortar to cause losses at border posts.”

One shell fell on the house of a journalist in the city but did not cause any injury or loss of life. Another shell landed on a kindergarten school but the building was empty, a source said.

“No one was hurt when one of the mortars tore into a room on the second floor of the house of Saleh Al-Swan, the bureau chief of Al-Watan in Najran,” the source said. Al-Swan later said his family was safe.

Some of the mortars fell on open land, while others landed close to residential homes and caused slight damage to some cars and buildings, the source said.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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