Saudi 'success' only a "temporary reprieve"

'Assistant Minister for Defence & Aviation, General, Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin abdul Aziz, known as the 'Arab Schwarzkopf', salutes Saudi forces

Al Jazeera/ English

"The situation is calm ... especially in Jebel al-Dukhan, of which full control has been regained," Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, the assistant minister for defence and aviation, said on Saturday, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Theodore Karasik, an analyst at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said that it was likely that the apparent success of the Saudi action was only a "temporary reprieve".

"The Saudis have been able to push back the rebels but they are going to continue to have problems with the rebels if the Yemeni army is indeed using the southern part of Saudi Arabia for operations and for supply lines," he told Al Jazeera from Dubai....

Prince Khaled was reported as saying that three members of the Saudi security forces had been killed and 15 wounded in the fighting along the Saudi-Yemeni border. He also acknowledged that four Saudi soldiers were missing following the five days of fighting, but dismissed claims that anyone had been captured..."