News / Yemen

Yemeni forces, allies shoot down Saudi-led surveillance drone in Hajjah

Tuesday, 31 December 2019 1:23 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 31 December 2019 1:50 PM ]

This grab from a video made on August 21, 2019, shows people searching the wreckage of a Saudi-led drone after it was shot down by Yemeni air defense forces and their allies in the skies over Yemen's southwestern Dhamar province. (Photo by AFP)

Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from the 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 the country’s northwestern province of Hajjah.

The Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Yemeni forces and their allies shot down the drone while it was on a reconnaissance mission in al-Tina area of the Hayran district on Tuesday morning.

إسقاط ثالث طائرة تجسس للعدوان خلال 24 ساعة#المسيرة #المسيرة_نت https://t.co/BPm5JEtue2
— قناة المسيرة (@almasirah) December 31, 2019

He identified the downed aircraft as a Chinese-made Phantom unmanned aerial vehicle.

The development came only a day after Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down a Turkish-built Vestel Karayel drone with a precision missile.

Saree said the aircraft was struck as it was on a surveillance mission over al-Salif coastal village in Yemen’s western province of Hudaydah.

Earlier on Monday, Yemeni forces had intercepted and targeted a Saudi-led spy drone as it was flying over the Razih district of the country’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.

إسقاط طائرة تجسس معادية في أجواء محافظة صعدة#المسيرة #المسيرة_نت https://t.co/nHKnnOwy54
— قناة المسيرة (@almasirah) December 30, 2019

Also on Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition launched four Katyusha rockets at a residential area in the al-Hali district of Hudaydah province, but there were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

Saudi-led troops also sprayed houses and private properties in the Kilo 16 district of Hudaydah with bullets, damaging a number of them. No immediate reports of casualties were available though.

Yemeni forces imposed new military equations on enemy: Spokesman

The aggressors have been dealt unexpected blows in the war, Yemen

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 former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.

The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.

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