The international coalition for Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, announced this Saturday that its units have managed to intercept and destroy a new drone in the eastern part of the country, while the Houthis claim to have shot down an armed Saudi reconnaissance aircraft that was operating in their airspace.
The coalition spokesperson, Turki al Maliki, has detailed that over the last three hours, three drones have been neutralized in eastern Saudi Arabia, in addition to two ballistic missiles that were heading toward the capital, Riyadh.
At the same time, the Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, pointed out that the rebels have shot down an armed reconnaissance aircraft belonging to Saudi forces while carrying out “hostile operations” in the sky over Al Jawf, and he stressed that it is the fifth aircraft shot down by the Houthis since the start of the current escalation.
Shortly before, Saudi Civil Defense had issued an emergency alert in Riyadh, which was withdrawn shortly afterward. In that notice, the population was asked to continue following safety instructions and it was recommended to avoid gatherings and the recording of videos.
The Houthis, who launched a large-scale offensive in western Yemen on September 3, have consolidated advances in the areas around Taiz in recent days and have carried out numerous attacks with missiles and drones against Saudi territory, in retaliation for the support of the international coalition led by Riyadh for the military operations of the internationally recognized Yemeni authorities.
For their part, forces loyal to those authorities announced on October 4 the start of a large-scale offensive with the objective of regaining areas recently conquered by the Houthis and trying to advance even toward the capital, Sana’a, which has been under rebel control since 2014.