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Yemeni fighters down another Saudi spy drone, this time over Hajjah

The photo shows the wreckage of a Wing Loong drone belonging to the Saudi-led coalition after it was shot down by Yemeni forces in Bani Muadh area of the Sahar district in the northwestern province of Sa’ada on April 19, 2019. (Photo by Yemen’s Operations Command Center)

A surveillance drone belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition has been shot down by Yemeni fighters while flying in the skies over the northwestern province of Hajjah.

The media bureau of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces targeted the Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong aircraft with a surface-to-air missile on Saturday evening.

The statement added that the drone was struck over Hayran district.

The Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from the Popular Committees have managed to hit the enemy's aircraft almost regularly over the past months.

A similar drone was shot down in Bani Muadh area of the Sahar district in the northwestern province of Sa’ada on April 19.

And on Thursday, Ansarullah forces downed a Saudi Apache helicopter near the Yemeni border. The two pilots were killed.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said the helicopter had engaged in "hostile activity."

In his statement, Saree warned against incursions into the Yemeni airspace.

The military official reiterated that Yemen was ready to go to great lengths to protect its airspace against any act of aggression.

The anti-Yemen coalition confirmed the helicopter episode.

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 former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives since.

A boy was one of the latest victims of the coalition strikes on Saturday. He lost his life when artillery shells slammed into Wadi al-Amouk area in the southwestern province of Ta'izz.

The war on Yemen has also taken a heavy toll on its infrastructure. The United Nations says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.


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