AL-KHUBAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it will keep up air strikes against Yemeni rebels until they pull back from its borders, as Iran warned against regional intervention in the conflict.
"We are not going to stop the bombing until the Huthis retreat tens of kilometres (miles) inside their border," Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan said on a visit to troops in the southwestern province of Jizan.
He appeared to confirm reports by Shiite Zaidi rebels that Saudi warplanes continued to pummel them inside Yemen, a week after a rebel raid into Saudi territory sparked air and ground bombardment of their positions.
Rebel chief Abdel Malek al-Huthi meanwhile called on Saudi Arabia to end its attacks and stressed his group had no foreign backing.
"The escalation in (Saudi) attacks... is not in the interests of the two countries," Al-Huthi told Al-Jazeera TV news channel, underscoring what he said was "deep concern for understanding" with Riyadh.
And amid charges the rebels have Iranian backing, Al-Huthi said his group "has no links with any any foreign political power in the confrontations underway" with Yemeni forces.
Earlier the rebels, also known as Huthis after their leader, said a Saudi air strike on a Yemeni village near the border killed two women and wounded a child.
"The air strike hit a house, martyring two women and wounding a child," a statement on their website said, adding strikes also targeted a government building in Shida village.
Prince Khaled said four Saudi soldiers were still missing but did not comment on a Huthi video posted on the Internet of a man they said was a captured Saudi soldier.
Saudi forces have been shelling rebel positions in the 2,000-metre (6,600-foot) Jebel al-Dukhan mountain area straddling the border since last Wednesday, after the rebels killed a border guard and occupied two small villages inside Saudi territory.
It was the first overt action by Saudi forces against the Huthis since Yemeni forces launched "Operation Scorched Earth" against the insurgents in the north of the country on August 11.
Security experts say the Saudis have been providing funds and intelligence to support the Yemeni military.
While Riyadh officially says it is only hitting the Shiite rebels inside Saudi Arabia, foreign analysts and a Saudi adviser have said the shelling has targeted rebel positions inside northwest Yemen's Saada province.
On Monday, the adviser said the Saudi military was scaling back its shelling and special forces teams were combing the mountainous area for remaining Huthi fighters, after capturing "hundreds" of them.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned regional powers against intervention in Yemen -- without identifying Saudi Arabia by name.
"Countries of the region must seriously hold back from intervening in Yemen's internal affairs. Those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows," Mottaki said.
Yemen, which has accused Iran of supporting the rebels, announced in October that it had captured five Iranians attempting to smuggle a boatload of weapons to them.
Tehran denies helping the rebels, and a Saudi source has told AFP there is no evidence of active Iranian involvement.
Syria and Saudi Arabia's partners in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- meanwhile voiced support for Riyadh.
"The GCC is always ready to stand alongside Saudi Arabia in the face of dangers and aggressions," Omani Foreign Minister Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah said at a GCC ministerial meeting in Doha.
In Damascus, a government official quoted by state-run SANA news agency said: "Syria supports the legitimate right of the kingdom to defend its sovereignty and the integrity of its territory."
In Geneva, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said the number of people displaced or affected by fighting between rebels and government forces had climbed to 175,000 since 2004, when the conflict first broke out.
Earlier this year the UNHCR put the numbers of those displaced or affected at 150,000.
