Yemeni forces shoot down Saudi reconnaissance aircraft: Report

The Yemeni army, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, has reportedly shot down a Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on an espionage mission near the country’s airspace.

According to a report by Yemen’s al-Masirah television, the Saudi spy drone was downed by Yemeni forces over Alab border region in the kingdom’s Asir Province Tuesday night.

In another development, Yemeni army forces destroyed the positions of Saudi mercenaries in Salo region in the southwestern province of Ta’izz, killing an unspecified number of them.

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters also took control over Seid region and Hasab village in Salo.

Elsewhere in Sana’a Province, Yemeni armed forces targeted vehicles belonging to Saudi mercenaries with missile attacks in the Nehm district.

No let-up in Saudi assaults

Separately, reports said Saudi warplanes pounded the international airport in the western province of Hudaydah as well as Razeh district in the northwestern province of Sa’ada.

Saudi mercenaries’ sniper fire also killed two women in Sabr district of Ta’izz on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the toll at 10,000. The offensive was launched to reinstate the former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and undermine Ansarullah.

International alarm has been growing over airstrikes that have hit civilian targets, including a recent one that hit a funeral in Sana’a and killed over 140 people last month.