News / Yemen

Yemeni forces down Saudi helicopter in Hudaydah province: TV

Thursday, 16 March 2017 2:08 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 17 March 2017 11:13 AM ]

This photo provided by the media bureau of the Joint Operations Command in Yemen shows the site where a Saudi helicopter was brought down in Hudaydah province, Yemen, March 16, 2017.

Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees have shot down an Apache helicopter operated by Saudi Arabia in the western province of Hudaydah, a report says.

The chopper was brought down in Hudaydah’s Bayt al-Faqih district on Thursday, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

On January 25, the Yemeni forces shot down another Apache helicopter belonging to the so-called Saudi-led coalition in Dhubab neighborhood of Yemen's Ta'izz province.

Ten Saudi soldiers slain

Separately on Thursday, al-Masirah reported that a Saudi trooper had been killed in the al-Dukhan military base in the kingdom’s southwestern Jizan region.

Nine other Saudi soldiers lost their lives in several places across Saudi Arabia's southern region, including Jizan’s al-Dafinah village.

According to later reports, one of the slain soldiers came form the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a statement carried by the UAE state news agency, WAM, the Emirati armed forces identified the soldier as Zakariya Suleiman al-Zaabi.

Some 85 Emirati soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen two years ago.

Additionally on Thursday, Yemeni fighters managed to thwart an attack by Saudi mercenaries on a border crossing near Saudi Arabia's southern region of Najran and inflicted heavy losses on them.

Yemeni sources said a number of Saudi mercenaries were killed and injured in Najran’s al-Khazra' crossing following a mine explosion.

Elsewhere, Saudi mercenaries shot dead a Yemeni woman in the town of Ma'afir in Yemen's Ta'izz province.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a deadly military campaign against Yemen since March 2015. The kingdom has also imposed an aerial and naval blockade on its southern neighbor.

Britain and the US have provided huge amounts of arms and military training to the Saudi forces.

The war by Saudi Arabia, which seeks to restore Yemen's former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, to power, has killed over 12,000 Yemenis, according to recent tallies.

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