Ishmael
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- Oct 18, 2011
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Contempt: One man throws a massive stone at the remains of the aircraft in Sana'a, Yemen
Yemeni rebels claim to have shot down a Saudi F-16 fighter jet during a fresh wave of airstrikes.
The Iran-backed rebels were pictured celebrating with the wreckage of the downed aircraft which crashed in the district of Bani Harith in the northern part of Sana'a today.
The fighter jet had reportedly conducted a number of airstrikes against Yemen's al-Dailami air base before it came down.
Two of the rockets of the fighter jet remained unexploded in the incident, local reports said.
Fighting started between forces loyal to the beleaguered President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and those allied to Zaidi Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced Mr Hadi to flee the capital Sanaa in February.
Since then, a number of airstrikes have been carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis and their allies since late March.
Earlier this month a Moroccan F-16 warplane crashed while on a mission with Saudi Arabia-led forces in Yemen.
Today's plane crashed as Saudi-led warplanes launched more air strikes across Yemen targeting Iran-backed rebels.
According to media outlets, the Saudi fighter jets targeted a factory in the western Yemeni province of al-Hudaydah, killing three civilians and injuring 19 others.
The air raids pounded arms depots under the control of the Shiite Huthi rebels in the locality of Ghula, in Omran province north of Sanaa, locals said.
They followed similar bombardments of weapons storage facilities in the capital that sparked deadly explosions, and strikes on the Dhabwa military base, which is currently under rebel control.
In the western province of Hodeida, a military airport was twice bombed by coalition warplanes, according to residents.
The Arab coalition has stepped up raids on positions held by the Huthis and their allies since a humanitarian ceasefire ended late on Tuesday.
At Hajja in the north of the country, a gathering of Huthis was struck, killing at least 12 of the Shiite fighters, witnesses reported.
Air strikes also attacked rebel positions in Dhamar, officials there said, while tank and mortar fire sounded across some sectors of the central region where heavy fighting took place, according to tribal sources.
In southern Yemen, warplanes targeted rebels locked in combat with tribesmen in Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province, military officials said.
The fighting killed at least 28 people, including 17 Huthis and 11 tribesmen, the sources said.
In Aden, clashes raged in the north, east and west of the port city between rebels and fighters loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, military sources said.
The Saudi-led coalition launched the air campaign against the Huthis on March 26 after the rebels seized the capital and advanced on Hadi's stronghold of Aden, forcing him to flee to Riyadh.
The United Nations, which plans to hold a conference on Yemen in Geneva next week, says the violence has killed more than 1,000 people and displaced close to half a million more.
Source: Dailymail
