Saudi-Led Coalition’s US-Built Spy Drone Downed over Yemen’s Hajjah

The spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said in a post on his Twitter page on Monday that Yemeni air defense units shot down the unmanned aerial vehicle as it was carrying out hostile acts in the sky over the Harad district.

The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used by the Saudi-led coalition for espionage activities.

The Yemeni armed forces also made fresh territorial gains against Saudi-backed mercenaries in the country’s oil-producing province of Ma’rib, seizing control over a strategic region southwest of the provincial capital.

Yemen Press Agency, citing local sources requesting anonymity, reported that the Yemeni troops and their allies have been engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-sponsored militants loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi over the past two days.

The sources noted that Yemeni Army troops and Popular Committees fighters launched a large-scale military attack from the eastern flank of the Balaq mountain range and al-Faliha region towards the positions of Saudi mercenaries on the outskirts of the Wadi Ubaidah district.

The Yemeni forces managed to ultimately establish full control over the strategic al-Som region following fierce battles with the militants, which left casualties on both sides.

In an attempt to stop the advance of the Yemeni armed forces, war coalition warplanes launched several air raids on various areas in the eastern part of Balaq Mountains.

Yemeni sources highlighted that al-Som region is of special significance as it sits on major supply routes, and connects the Wadi Ubaidah district to the Dam of 'Arim and the eastern sector of Balaq Mountains.

Furthermore, a senior official from Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has praised the steadfastness and resilience of Yemeni armed forces and their allies.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau, wrote in a tweet that residents from the southwestern Yemeni province of Dhamar have heeded a call by Mahdi al-Mashat, who heads Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, to mobilize forces in order to liberate the occupied Yemeni territories and break the Saudi-led siege.

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states.

The objective was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Yemeni forces have continued to grow stronger in the face of the Saudi-led invaders, advancing toward strategic areas held by Saudi-led mercenaries, including Ma’rib province, and conducting several rounds of counterstrikes against Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent months.