RIYADH: Saudi soldiers on the front lines of the war in Yemen are getting a month’s extra salary from King Salman, official media said.

The handout comes after an escalation of the 17-month-old war following the suspension of peace talks between Yemeni rebels and the internationally recognised government.

King Salman “has ordered paying a month’s salary to active participants at the front lines” of the Yemen operation, which began in March last year, the Saudi Press Agency reported late on Sunday. “The order covers employees of the ministries of interior, defence, and the National Guard,” it said, without giving the total cost of the bonus.

It comes as the kingdom battles a projected $87-billion deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed by more than half over the past two years.

Air strikes on Yemen hospital kill six

Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit a hospital in a rebel-held province of north-west Yemen on Monday killing at least six people, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and a rebel official said.

MSF “confirms that Abs hospital [in Hajja province] was targeted by air strikes today at 15:45 Yemen time (1245 GMT)”, the Paris-based relief agency tweeted.

Ayman Mazkour, who heads the health sector in Hajja province, said six people were killed and 20 wounded in the strikes, warning that the toll could rise. “Medical teams have not yet been able to enter the hospital,” he said in a statement carried by the rebel sabanews.net website, adding that coalition warplanes were still flying over the area.

The strikes come less than 48 hours after MSF accused the coalition of killing 10 children in air strikes on a Quranic school in Saada.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016