Yemen forces shoot down Saudi spy drone

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 atrocious aerial assaults against its crisis-hit neighbor.

Yemeni forces targeted the remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it was flying over al-Dhaher district in the arid and mountainous province, which lies 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital, Sana’a, on Friday, the Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported.

The development came on the same day as Yemeni forces destroyed a Saudi tank and an armored vehicle in the al-Khobe district of Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border region of Jizan.

On October 9, Yemeni soldiers supported by popular committees’ fighters shot down a Saudi spy drone in the Kitaf district of Sa’ada Province.

The small UAV 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.

Yemeni forces had targeted another Saudi surveillance drone in the southeastern province of Dhamar the previous day.

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

Saudi military aggression against Yemen

Also on Monday, a Yemeni man and his wife lost their lives when Saudi fighter jets bombarded a residential area in Haydan district of Sa’ada.

Additionally, Saudi fighter jets targeted Mahabishah district in the northwestern Yemeni province of Hajjah, killing one civilian and injuring another.

Saudi warplanes also pounded several other districts in the same Yemeni province, leaving the mobile network coverage lost in many of those areas.

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.