Yemeni Air Defenses Shoot Down US-Made Spy Drone over Jizan

Yemeni Armed Forces' Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a brief statement on Thursday the country's air defenses have managed to shoot down a spy drone belonging to the Saudi-led coalition forces over the sky of Jizan province.

“The air defenses were able to, thank God, shoot down an American-made RQ-20 spy plane belonging to the Saudi air force while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of the Jizan front,” the general said.

General Saree also explained that the process of shooting down the plane was carried out with a suitable weapon without elaborating about the type of used weapon, noting that the military's media will broadcast the footage of the plane's wreckage in the coming hours.

Yemeni Al-Masirah news agency also reported that the air defenses of the Yemeni Armed Forces and Popular Committees were able to shoot down multiple spy aircraft of the same type in several areas.

Earlier on Wednesday, the country’s air defenses shot down a Chinese-made CH4 spy drone belonging to the Saudi air force with a surface-to-air missile when it was conducting hostile activities in the airspace of the Ma'rib province over Juba District.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and regional allies, launched a war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah resistance movement.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases.

Yemeni forces, however, have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.