The media bureau of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down the drone as it was on a reconnaissance mission over al-Dayer area of the region, situated 966 kilometers (600 miles) south of the capital Riyadh, on Wednesday evening.
The development came a day after the spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Yemeni forces and their allies had shot down a Saudi-led spy drone as it was flying in the skies over al-Tina area of the Hayran district in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah.
Saree identified the downed aircraft as a Chinese-made Phantom unmanned aerial vehicle.
Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down a Turkish-built Vestel Karayel drone with a precision missile on Monday.
The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces said at the time the aircraft was struck as it was on a surveillance mission over al-Salif coastal village in Yemen’s western province of Hudaydah.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah movement.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.
The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.