Saudis bolster forces on border near Yemen

Saudi Arabia has moved anti-aircraft weapons and other forces to its border with Yemen, amid growing concern in Riyadh about the advance of Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen, US officials said Wednesday.
The move by Saudi Arabia was taken as a "precaution" and did not mean that an armed incursion into Yemen was imminent, officials said.
"They have taken any number of defensive measures," a US defense official told AFP.
"They are looking to maintain the security of their borders," but it would be "far-fetched" to interpret the deployment as signalling a major armed intervention.
The military build-up included artillery and anti-aircraft systems along the southwestern border with Yemen, officials said.
Saudi Arabia has been alarmed at the rise of the Shiite Huthi militia in Yemen, which seized power in Sanaa last month. The Western-backed president, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, escaped from house arrest and fled south.
But the Huthi rebels were moving in on Hadi on Wednesday as they seized Aden's airport.
The violence in Yemen reflects a mounting proxy war between Iran, which backs the Huthi rebels in the north, and Saudi Arabia, which supports Hadi and his loyalists.
When Hadi fled Huthi-imposed house arrest in Sanaa in February and resurfaced in Aden, Saudi Arabia was the first country to transfer its embassy there, in an open display of support for the embattled leader.
However, the Iranian-backed Huthis flexed their military muscle last week, staging drills near the border with Saudi Arabia.
And Tehran has openly denounced moves to make the southern port Yemen's temporary capital.
Saudi Arabia fears that the Huthis, who swept down from the north and moved to the shores of the Red Sea, now have their sights set on the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.
This would give Iran proxy control over the key waterway to and from the Suez Canal, adding to its already strong presence in the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz through which much of the world's oil passes.
While concerned about events in Yemen, officials in Washington said the US Navy would remain the dominant force in the Red Sea and would not be deterred by the presence of the Huthi rebels.
Source: AFP