A Saudi Tornado warplane fighting in
Yemen has crashed in the northern province of al-Jawf.
According to Saudi Arabia’s state
news agency SPA, a Saudi-led coalition spokesman confirmed that the fighter jet
had “fallen” while carrying out a support mission near Yemeni army
units.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed they
shot down the plane.
The coalition has been battling the
rebel Houthi movement since 2015.
It intervened after the Houthis ousted
the internationally-recognized government from power in the capital Sanaa.
The Houthi rebels said they used
ground-to-air missiles to down the warplane on February 14. They also accused
the coalition of killing 30 people in retaliatory airstrikes in al-Jawf on the
next day.
Saudi Arabia has not provided
details of any casualties from the crash, or what caused it.
Yemen has been at war since 2015,
when President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his cabinet were forced to flee the
capital Sanaa by the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia backs President Hadi,
and has led a coalition of regional countries in air strikes against the
rebels.
The coalition carries out air strikes
almost every day, while the Houthis often fire missiles into Saudi Arabia.
Yemen civil war has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with an estimated 80% of the population – more than 24 million people – requiring humanitarian assistance or protection. Tens of thousands of people have died n Yemen as a result of the conflict.
Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has left his refuge in Aden under Saudi protection and arrived in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, officials say, as a Saudi-led coalition continues to launch air strikes against Shia Houthi rebels.
It is the first confirmation of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s whereabouts since March 25, when he fled rebel forces in the city of Aden.
The officials say he will go to Egypt for an Arab league summit on March 28.
The Saudi authorities began air strikes in Yemen on Wednesday night, a step Iran called “dangerous”.
During the second night of raids warplanes again targeted rebel positions in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and an air base near the southern port city of Aden.
Reports say there were civilian casualties.
Clashes were also reported in Aden between troops loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels.
Saudi Arabia says it is “defending the legitimate government” of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi took refuge in Aden last month after fleeing Sanaa, where he had been under house arrest since the Houthis took full control of the capital in January.
On March 27, a Saudi official said he had travelled to Riyadh, but would attend the two-day Arab summit in Egypt as the “legitimate” Yemeni president.
The Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubair, said the first wave of airstrikes over targets in Yemen “went extremely well and with no collateral damage”.
He said this was “just the beginning of the campaign” which would carry on until “wisdom prevails” among the Houthi rebels.
Sources say the kingdom would consider sending troops to protect the government if it were to re-assemble in Aden in the future.
Reports said Saudi Arabia was using 100 warplanes in the operation, and its allies would contribute dozens more.
Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported that the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan were sending aircraft, while Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Pakistan were ready to take part in any ground offensive targeting the Houthis.
The US said it was providing “logistical and intelligence support”.
However, a Houthi official warned the coalition that it risked provoking a wider war.
Shia power Iran, which Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia accuses of backing the rebels, also demanded an immediate halt to the strikes, which it said violated Yemen’s sovereignty.
Turkey has accused Iran of trying to dominate the region.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he supported the operation against the Houthis, adding Iran’s stance had begun “annoying us, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries”.
“This is really not tolerable and Iran has to see this,” he said.
A conflict that pulls in regional powers could disrupt global oil supplies, and the price of Brent crude rose almost 6% after the strikes began.
Media reports said at least 13 civilians were killed in Sanaa during the first day of the air strikes, and 18 people were killed in clashes between rebel fighters and soldiers and militiamen loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in southern Yemen.
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