Yemeni Houthi Rebels Claim Downess of Saudi F-15 Fighter Jet Over Marib
Photo: Collected
Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed on Wednesday that they have shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 fighter jet over the airspace of Yemen's Marib province, using a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile.
Yahya Saree, the military spokesperson for the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, announced the claim in a televised statement, asserting that the armed forces intercepted the aircraft while it was supporting military operations conducted by the Saudi-led coalition. According to local sources cited by Al Jazeera, the warplane was brought down near Mount Helan in the northwestern part of Marib.
The Saudi-led coalition did not immediately issue any response or comment regarding the Houthi claim.
The conflict in Yemen has persisted since 2015, when Houthi forces seized the capital, Sanaa, and ousted the internationally recognized government, prompting the intervention of the Saudi-led military coalition.
This long-running conflict has gained a new dimension amid ongoing regional tensions, with Saudi authorities alleging that the Houthis recently launched a drone toward the holy city of Mecca. Consequently, security alerts were briefly issued on Tuesday for Mecca—marking the first such security warning for the city since a similar Houthi attack attempt in 2017—as well as for Taif and the country's second-largest city, Jeddah. The Saudi government lifted the security alert in Mecca just minutes after it was implemented, while the Houthi movement has strongly denied the accusations of targeting holy sites.
