Yemeni forces shoot down Saudi reconnaissance aircraft
Yemeni forces have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance aircraft as they push ahead with their retaliatory attacks against Riyadh’s military.
According to a report by Yemen’s al-Masirah television, the Saudi spy drone was downed by Yemeni armed forces over Qaviya base in the kingdom’s southwestern region of Jizan on Thursday.
In another development, a Saudi soldier was killed by Yemeni army snipers in the al-Rabuah area of Jizan.
Elsewhere in the same region, a Saudi military vehicle came under fire by Yemeni forces.
Over the past 24 hours, the Yemeni army has scored major victories on several fronts in Jizan, Najran and Asir regions of Saudi Arabia, Saba Net news agency reported on Thursday.
An unidentified military source told Saba Net that the Yemeni army artillery with the help of allied fighters pounded the Saudi mountainous region of al-Aqabah and several places of gatherings belonging to Saudi troops in al-Qarn, al-Khobe, al-Mahrooq and al-Masfaq bases across Jizan.
No let-up in Saudi assaults
An unnamed security source said that Saudi warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada on Thursday, killing a Yemeni citizen and injuring a number of others.
He added that Thursday’s air raids severely damaged residential areas in two areas in the province.
Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with the UN putting the toll from the aggression at more than 10,000.
The offensive was launched to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its allies and restore power to the former Yemeni government. The US has been providing logistic and surveillance support to the kingdom in the bloody military campaign.
In one of the deadliest attacks in the impoverished country, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in the capital city of Sana’a last week, killing over 140 people and injuring at least 525 others.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the Saudi airstrike on the Sana’a funeral was an apparent war crime, adding that Riyadh has used its position in the UN Human Rights Council “to obstruct efforts to establish an international inquiry into ongoing violations in Yemen.”
