Yemeni army forces and fighters from their allied Popular Committees have managed to intercept and downed a US-built Boeing Insitu ScanEagle spy drone operated by the Saudi-led military coalition as the aircraft was on a spying mission in the skies over the country’s central province of Ma’rib.
Faraan: Yemeni air defense units shot down the unmanned aerial vehicle on Tuesday morning as it was carrying out hostile acts over the al-Jubah district, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced via his Twitter page.
He added that the Yemeni Army is going to release the footage of the interception and shooting down of the US-made spy drone in the near future.
Back on September 27, Yemeni army forces and their allies shot down a Saudi-led ScanEagle reconnaissance drone as the aircraft was flying over the Medghal district of Ma’rib province.
A Saudi-led ScanEagle reconnaissance drone was intercepted and struck over the same district on August 14, as the aircraft was on a spying mission.
Saudi-backed militants evacuate families from Ma’rib
Meanwhile, militants, who are loyal to Yemen’s fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and fighting within the Saudi-led coalition’s ranks, have received orders to evacuate their families from Ma’rib amid Yemenis’ advances.
Informed sources told Yemen News Portal website that the militants were initially based in Government House area, before they were ordered to transfer their families to al-Sharurah area on the border with Saudi Arabia.
The sources added that the evacuation took place as “Saudi Arabia intends to lure those who have fled battlefronts into fighting on its borders, and exert more pressure on those who are still in Ma’rib to stay on.”
Last week, several Yemeni parties, including al-Islah, blasted Saudi Arabia and its mercenaries for failing to stop the advances of Yemeni armed forces in Ma’rib province.
In a joint statement released on November 2, the parties expressed surprise at the ill performance of the Saudi-led coalition and its mismanagement of the tasks assigned to it in the Ma’rib fighting.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Saudi-led warplanes conducted more than three dozen airstrikes against various residential neighborhoods across Ma’rib province.
A Yemeni security official told the official Saba news agency that the military aircraft launched 40 raids against al-Jubah and Sirwah districts.
