North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has succeeded in intercepting a cross-border grassland fire from neighboring Mongolia after days of intense containment efforts, and the fire situation is generally under control as of Thursday, authorities say. The fire, which emerged on Friday in the Mongolian side, spread toward China's border areas in the Xilin Gol League and threatened to extend toward the Hinggan League, fueled by strong winds that caused fluctuating and repeated flare-ups.
More than 3,400 professional firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed to contain the fire on the border area.
After the joint efforts of multiple rescue forces over the past few days, more than 330 kilometers of the fire have been successfully intercepted from the other side of the border.
"Upon receiving the fire alarm, the forest and grassland fire control command office of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region immediately activated the response mechanism and instructed the meteorological authorities to continuously conduct satellite monitoring to keep abreast of the fire situation in real time," said Zhang Yanming, commander of the cross-border fire frontline command post of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
"We've mainly adopted such tactics and approaches as extinguishing fire while patrolling, clearing combustible materials while extinguishing fire, and widening the isolation belts. We've divided the task area into five zones and advanced in a phased manner to effectively reduce the risk of border entry of the fire from the other side. So far, with the joint efforts of all rescue forces, the fire has been intercepted from the other side of the border," he said.
North China region succeeds in intercepting cross-border grassland fire from neighboring Mongolia
Yemen's Houthi group said that it had carried out multiple attacks on Saudi and Saudi-led coalition targets, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a Houthi missile, and Yemeni government forces reported operations against the group on several fronts.
In a statement released early Thursday, the Houthis said they used a surface-to-air missile to hit a Saudi Typhoon fighter jet. The aircraft, they said, had taken off from Saudi Arabia's Taif Air Base and was hit over Yemen's Sa'adah Province. Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the claim.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Houthis said they launched a large-scale attack using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones against oil facilities of energy giant Saudi Aramco in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, as well as King Khalid International Airport and a Saudi Aramco refinery in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The Houthis said in a separate statement released Wednesday evening that the group had fired one more ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport and launched three ballistic missiles at Saudi-led coalition targets in southern Yemen.
Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said on Wednesday that they had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's General Directorate of Civil Defense said in a statement on Wednesday that fragments from the intercepted missile fell in Riyadh, injuring one person.
Meanwhile, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that late on Wednesday the Saudi-led coalition carried out an airstrike on a residential building in the Al Maravi'ah area of Hodeidah province, which is under Houthi control. Early on Thursday, al-Masirah also reported that Yemen's capital, Sanaa, had come under Saudi attack.
According to a Houthi statement issued on Wednesday evening, the Saudi-led coalition launched 42 airstrikes and missile attacks on Houthi-controlled areas in the previous 24 hours. The Houthis said that Saudi attacks on islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait directly threatened the safety of maritime shipping routes.
Separately, Yemeni government forces said on Wednesday that they continued to strike Houthi targets and personnel on the eastern and southern fronts.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
Houthis, Saudi-led coalition report fresh military actions against each other
