Yemeni forces target Saudi spy drone in NW Yemen

Yemeni army soldiers backed by fighters from the popular committees have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance drone in the country’s northwestern province of Sa’ada as Riyadh continues with its military aggression against its embattled neighbor.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language Khabar news agency that Yemeni forces targeted the remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle on Friday as it was flying over Kitaf district in the arid and mountainous province, which lies 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital, Sana’a.

The small drone was later identified as a long-endurance Boeing Insitu ScanEagle.

On July 6, Yemeni army soldiers backed by Houthi Ansarullah fighters downed Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle while conducting a surveillance mission in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.

The development came less than a day after Yemeni forces had targeted another Saudi surveillance drone in the southeastern province of Dhamar.

In early May, Ansarullah fighters took possession of a Saudi surveillance drone, which had parachute-landed in Sa’ada due to a technical glitch.

Retaliatory attacks

Also on Friday, Yemeni army soldiers and their allies lobbed a barrage of rockets at al-Zaber military base in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern region of Jizan, leaving an unspecified number of Saudi soldiers killed and injured. The attacks come in retaliation against the Saudi aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor. 

Moreover, six rockets fired by Yemeni forces slammed into al-Radif base in the same Saudi area, leaving several troopers dead and injured.

Scores of Saudi soldiers also had to evacuate al-Rabou’a area in the kingdom’s southwestern region of Aseer after a number of projectiles launches by Yemeni soldiers and popular committees fighters rained down on the terrain.

Yemen has been under military strikes on a daily basis since Saudi forces launched their military aggression against their southern neighbor on March 26, in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

About 6,400 people have reportedly lost their lives in the Saudi airstrikes, and a total of nearly 14,000 people have been injured since March. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, 505 children are among the fatalities.

The UN reported on October 6 that some 114,000 people have also been forced to flee the war-stricken country due to the Saudi aggression.

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