Houthis claim Saudi F-15 jet shot down hours after Mecca drone attack - The Indian Express

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree has claimed that the group’s forces shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Yemen’s Marib Governorate in the northeastern region of the country. He said a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile was used to down the F-15. Saree’s claim, however, has not been confirmed by Saudi Arabia yet.

The claim comes after Saudi Arabia alleged that it had shot down a Houthi drone near Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

The alleged Houthi attack had sparked an alarm across Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis, however, denied any attack, especially targeting Islamic holy sites.

According to Saree, Saudi F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets had carried out over 450 airstrikes this week. He said they took off from air bases in the Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait and Taif. He said the strikes targeted Taiz, Lahij, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Marib, Saada, Al-Bayda and other areas, resulting in civilian casualties.

He also claimed Houthi forces later confronted formations of Saudi F-15 and Typhoon aircraft over Marib as they searched for the wreckage of the downed jet, forcing them to withdraw.

According to the Saudi-led Coalition, the drone was detected and destroyed around 6:50 pm local time on Tuesday. The wreckage of the drone fell south of the city, reported news agency Reuters. Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki called the security of Mecca a “red line” and vowed the kingdom would take “necessary deterrent measures”.

Officials described it as only the second time in years that an attack has come this close to the city. The first was a 2017 ballistic missile launch that was also intercepted, Arab News reported.

A Houthi military source was quoted as saying by the group’s SABA news agency that the rebels posed no threat to Mecca or any other site holy to Islam, reported Al Jazeera.

The Houthis-vs-Saudi Arabia fight has been actively continuing throughout the past week. According to Al Jazeera, Saree had warned Saudi Arabia a week ago that its jet strikes “would not go unanswered”. Saudi Arabian officials, on the other hand, were quoted as saying by Arab News that Houthi missiles and drones had injured at least 13 people across three of its cities, including Khamis Mushait, Abha, and Taif.

Amid the constantly evolving Middle East conflict, the Houthis claimed to have tightened their grip on Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical shipping chokepoint. This comes at a time when Saudi oil exports are already being rerouted away from a partly blocked Strait of Hormuz, according to Israeli news website Haaretz.

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