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Yemeni forces shoot down Saudi-led combat drone in Sana’a

This file picture shows a US-built MQ-1 Predator drone equipped with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles under its wings.

Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have intercepted and targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition, as it was flying in the skies over a region in the country’s western-central province of Sana'a.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down the US-built MQ-1 Predator combat drone with a surface-to-air missile late on Tuesday.

The source added that the unmanned aerial vehicle was brought down as it was on a mission in the skies over Dian area in the Bani Matar district of the province.

On April 19, the media bureau of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces and their allies had shot down a Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong drone with a surface-to-air missile.

The statement issued on April 19 added that the drone was struck as it was on a surveillance mission over Bani Muadh area in the Sahar district of Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. It was armed with air-to-surface weapons.

Yemeni soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees intercepted and shot down an MQ-1 drone in the Hamdan district of Sana’a province on March 23.

Also on Tuesday, Yemeni troops and Popular Committees fighters thwarted an infiltration attempt by Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the Khabb wa ash Sha'af district of the country’s northern province of al-Jawf, killing and injuring scores of the mercenaries in the process.

Yemeni soldiers loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement march during a graduation ceremony for a new batch of cadets in the northwestern city of Sa’ada on April 20, 2019, in a show of support against the Saudi-led aggression on the country. (Photo by AFP) 

Yemeni army soldiers and their allies also targeted the position of Saudi-paid militiamen on the outskirts of al-Sadis military base in Saudi Arabia's southern province of Najran. A number of Saudi mercenaries were killed and wounded as a result.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Yemenis receive treatment for cholera at a hospital in the Khokha district of the western province of Hudaydah on April 18, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

According to a December 2018 report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN said in a report in December 2018 that over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.


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