Saudi ArabiaWest AsiaYemen

Allah-u Akbar: Yemeni forces shoot down second Saudi spy drone in 48 hours

8dc7a4ba-5826-4657-a9cf-36abb9f6e772

 

The Yemeni military backed by Ansarullah fighters has shot down a second Saudi spy drone over the past 48 hours.

Yemeni officials told local media outlets that the unmanned aircraft was downed while conducting a surveillance mission in the northwestern province of Sa’ada on Monday.

Another Saudi surveillance drone was brought down by the Yemeni forces in the southeastern province of Dhamar on Sunday.

In early May, Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters seized another Saudi surveillance drone (shown below), which had parachute-landed due to a technical fault, in Sa’ada.

Saudi Arabia regularly uses drones for spying missions against the Yemeni military forces across the impoverished country.

Yemen civilian death toll mounts

Latest reports indicate that a series of new airstrikes conducted by Saudi Arabia against Yemen have claimed the lives of more than 40 civilians.

According to the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television channel, at least 42 people lost their lives and dozens more were wounded in the airstrikes on a crowded market in the northwestern province of Hajjah on Monday.

Saudi air strikes also targeted a market in the northern city of Amran, killing at least 15 Yemeni civilians.

An unspecified number of casualties from over 20 similar attacks have also been reported in the eastern part of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, over the past hours.

Smoke billows following a Saudi airstrike in Sana’a, Yemen, July 2, 2015. (AFP)

 

Saudi warplanes also bombed Yemen’s General People’s Congress building and the Republican Guards Academy in Sana’a.

In the provinces of Hudaydah and Ta’izz, fatalities were reported after Saudi jets attacked a government palace and security buildings.

Meanwhile, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN special envoy to Yemen, arrived in Sana’a on Monday to discuss a ceasefire for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Yemeni people. The humanitarian pause, if implemented, would last until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Riyadh has been pounding Yemen since March 26 without any authorization from the United Nations. Local Yemeni sources say over 4,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the airstrikes.8dc7a4ba-5826-4657-a9cf-36abb9f6e772

Back to top button