DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Bahrain’s military said Wednesday that a third soldier has died from injuries sustained in an attack by Yemeni rebels on a Bahraini contingent patrolling Saudi Arabia’s southern border.
Monday’s attackMany soldiers were also injured, threatening recent progress toward ending Saudi Arabia’s eight-year war against Iran-allied rebels known as the Houthis. The rebels have not commented on the attack.
Bahrain says rebel forces have launched unprovoked drone attacks against soldiers. Bahrain and his close ally Saudi Arabia condemned the attack, saying the Saudi-led military coalition had “the right to respond at the appropriate time and place.”
The Pentagon condemned the attack in a statement Wednesday. “These unacceptable attacks threaten the longest period of peace since the war in Yemen began.”
It is unclear what impact the attack will have on ongoing peace efforts.
Yemen’s war began in 2014 when the Houthis swept away from their strongholds in the north and captured the capital Sanaa and much of the north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
The fighting quickly escalated into a deadlocked proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. widespread hunger and misery Even before the conflict, Yemen was the poorest country in the Arab world. The war killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians, and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, with tens of thousands more killed.
Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations earlier this year in a deal brokered by China. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia welcomed a Houthi delegation to peace talks, saying they were progressing well. “Positive results were obtained.””
A U.N.-brokered ceasefire has largely halted the violence, and Yemen has seen only sporadic clashes since it expired about a year ago.
Bahrain’s military announced the third death on social media sites.