Yemeni Forces Shoot Down Saudi Coalition Drone in Sana’a

Date: 15 May 2019 - 21:16

News ID: ۶۶۰۱۴

SANAA (Dispatches) – Yemeni army forces have intercepted and targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition, as it was flying in the skies over a region in the country’s western-central province of Sana'a.
Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down the U.S.-built MQ-1 Predator combat drone with a surface-to-air missile late on Tuesday, an unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was brought down as it was on a mission in the skies over Dian area in the Bani Matar district of the province, the source added
Yemeni soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees intercepted and shot down an MQ-1 drone in the Hamdan district of Sana’a province on March 23.
Meanwhile, Yemeni troops and Popular Committees fighters thwarted on Tuesday, an infiltration attempt by Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the Khabb wa ash Sha'af district of the country’s northern province of al-Jawf, killing and injuring scores of the mercenaries in the process.
Yemeni army soldiers and their allies also targeted the position of Saudi-paid militiamen on the outskirts of al-Sadis military base in Saudi Arabia's southern province of Najran. A number of Saudi mercenaries were killed and wounded as a result.
On April 19, the media bureau of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces and their allies had shot down a Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong drone with a surface-to-air missile.
The statement issued on April 19 added that the drone was struck as it was on a surveillance mission over Bani Muadh area in the Sahar district of Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. It was armed with air-to-surface weapons.
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 Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
According to a December 2018 report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.
The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN said in a report in December 2018 that over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.