On March 21, the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, also known as the Houthi rebellion, reportedly shot down a Saudi Arabian McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, in the northwestern region of war-torn Yemen, cited Sputnik.

A source within the Yemeni air defenses told Saba News Agency that Houthi rebels launched a surface-to-air missile (SAM), and “managed to hit an F-15 aircraft belonging to the aggression [Saudi Arabia], carrying out criminal and hostile raids over the city of Saada.”

The source confirmed to Saba that Houthi rebels carried out “monitoring and targeting of the aircraft [F-15] with the latest defense technology developed locally successfully.”

This alleged footage had surfaced on social media of the moment when Houthi rebels launched a surface-to-air missile (SAM) — striking the F-15 fighter jet, which caused the warplane to erupt in flames at high altitudes.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Saudi Arabian-led coalition forces, Colonel Turki al-Maliki said the warplane was struck at 15:48 local time (1248 GMT) by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) launched from Saada airport camp in Yemen. Al-Maliki noted that the plane received minimal damage from the strike and managed to return to a Saudi Arabian airbase.

Al-Maliki stressed that the surface-to-air missile (SAM) was “not included in the Yemeni government arms arsenal…and that this is another proof of Iranian weapons smuggling to the Shiite rebels in Yemen.”

Three years into the 2015 Saudi-led invasion of Yemen, Iran has long denied smuggling weapons to the Yemeni rebels. According to SouthFront, their team of experts alleges the unidentified warplane was hit by “what appears to be a Soviet-made R-27T missile.”

A video released by the Houthis media wing clearly showed an unidentified warplane being hit by what appears to be a Soviet made R-27T missile. The Saudi-led collation revealed last November that the he Houthis had managed to turn Soviet-made R-27T air-to-air missiles into ground-to-air missiles. The R-27T is guided by infrared homing, and has the “fire and forget” feature, which makes it easy to convert it into a ground-to-air missile. The R-27T’s range is 70km when it’s launched from air. Nonetheless, the missile will have a shorter range when the missile it is launched from the ground. The Saudi-led coalition has not commented on the incident yet, likely because the warplane managed to return to its home airbase or crashed in an area under the coalition control.

So far in 2018, this is the second time the Houthi rebels have claimed they have struck an F-15 or Saudi Arabian-linked warplane over the skies of Yemen. On Janurary 08, Houthi rebels released dramatic footage of a surface-to-air missile (SAM) downing an F-15 fighter jet, though Saudi media denied the report and said it crashed due to technical problems…

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump commended Saudi Arabia’s defense acquisitions as he met with Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), at the White House — and pushed for even more.

It has been increasingly evident that U.S. defense sales to Saudi Arabia are a dominant force in allowing the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen to flourish.

As President Trump becomes the most excellent salesman the military-industrial complex has ever seen, perhaps the Saudis should reevaluate their F-15 purchases, as a rogue underfunded rebel group in Yemen has managed to damage two of their American made warplanes in less than three months.

Interesting enough, as we described above, it is possible that a Russian manufactured missile struck an American made fighter jet over the skies of Yemen.</s>Alwaght- Yemeni air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have intercepted and shot down an F-15 fighter jet belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Military sources confirmed to Yemeni news agency Saba, that the warplane was targeted with a surface-to-air missile while flying over the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa’ada on Wednesday.

The US-made ultra-modern warplane had taken part in bombardments against residential neighborhoods in the province, sources said.

Earlier in the day, Saudi fighter jets targeted a vehicle as it was travelling along a road in the Nihm district of Yemen’s west-central province of Sana'a.

Meanwhile, Yemeni forces shot down a Saudi-led spy drone in flight over Midi district Hajjah Governorate, Yemen a military official told Saba on Tuesday. The incident took place on Monday, the official said.

Yemeni forces regularly target Saudi-led warplanes, spy drone flying over the country and also launch attacks inside the Saudi kingdom in retaliation for the Riyadh-led war on Yemen, which has claimed around 14,000 lives.

The Saudi aggression was launched in March 2015 to reinstate a former Riyadh-friendly government and to eliminate the popular Ansarullah movement, that has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration.

The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of the cooperation of Saudi Arabia’s regional and Western allies.</s>Alwaght- Yemeni air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have intercepted and shot down an F-15 fighter jet belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Military sources confirmed to Yemeni news agency Saba, that the warplane was targeted with a surface-to-air missile while flying over the northwestern Yemeni province of Saada on Wednesday.

The US-made modern warplane had taken part in bombardments against residential neighborhoods in the province, sources said.

Earlier in the day, Saudi fighter jets targeted a vehicle as it was travelling along a road in the Nihm district of Yemen’s west-central province of Sana'a.

Meanwhile, Yemeni forces shot down a Saudi-led spy drone in flight over Midi district Hajjah Governorate, Yemen a military official told Saba on Tuesday. The incident took place on Monday, the official said.

Yemeni forces regularly target Saudi-led warplanes, spy drone flying over the country and also launch attacks inside the Saudi kingdom in retaliation for the Riyadh-led war on Yemen, which has claimed around 14,000 lives.

The Saudi aggression was launched in March 2015 to reinstate a former Riyadh-friendly government and to eliminate the popular Ansarullah movement, that has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective administration.

The offensive has, however, achieved neither of its goals despite the spending of billions of petrodollars and the enlisting of the cooperation of Saudi Arabia’s regional and Western allies.</s>Alwaght-Over 17 civilians, including women and children, have been killed or wounded after Saudi warplanes dropped bombs on residential areas in Yemen’s northern province of Sa’ada.

This latest incident comes as the Saudi regime, backed by the United States, continues with its almost daily atrocities against Yemenis.

According to Yemen’s al-Masirah television network, the Saudi-led airstrikes hit residential buildings in the Ghamar district of the mountainous province of Sa’ada early on Thursday.

The development came just a day after Yemeni air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, successfully intercepted and shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter as it was flying in the skies over Sa’ada Province after carrying out a bombing mission.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

According to local estimates, nearly 14,000 Yemenis, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against the impoverished state. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war. The Saudi-led war has also triggered a worsening humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions across Yemen.</s>A Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft has been downed in the Sa'da Province in the northwest of war-torn Yemen, rebels said, cited by local news outlets.

Houthi Rebels claim they have downed a Saudi Arabian F-15 jet, according to al Jazeera. Press TV reported that the aircraft was intercepted and downed by Yemen's air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees. The plane that was reportedly participating in the airstrikes on residential neighborhoods in the Sa'da province was hit by a surface-to-air missile.

Alleged images and a video of the falling plane emerged on Twitter.

— Ermes News (@ermes_news) 21 марта 2018 г.

The bloody conflict in Yemen between the Houthi movement and the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi began in 2015. The Saudi-led coalition has launched the air campaign in support of Hadi, carrying out airstrikes in the country. However, the military operation has been condemned by watchdogs over civilian population losses.</s>Houthi Rebels claim they have downed a Saudi Arabian F-15 jet, according ot al Jazeera. Press TV reported that the aircraft was intercepted and downed by Yemen's air defense forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees. The plane that was reportedly participating in the airstrikes on residential neighborhoods in the province was hit by a surface-to-air missile.

​Alleged images of the falling plane emerged on Twitter.</s>Video hit social media yesterday showing an R-27 being launched from the ground against a high-flying jet. Houthi rebels claim the aircraft targeted was a Saudi F-15S and that it shot it down, but we still don't have any official confirmation of this being true, and considering how the Saudis have dealt with these incidents in the past, we may never receive such a report. A streaking fireball can be seen in the video which points to the aircraft at least being severely damaged in the engagement.

Reports that Houthi rebels had turned seized Russian made air-to-air missiles into improvised surface-to-air missiles have been circulating for months. An attack on a Saudi F-15 in January that was filmed by a commandeered FLIR turret was claimed to have been executed using one of these missiles. Now it seems we have definitive proof that these weapons are indeed being put to use in Yemen and in an effective manner.

In recent weeks the Saudi-led coalition posted aerial surveillance images of a Vympel R-27 turned SAM mounted on a truck. The image is troubling for coalition aircrews as the R-27 is a medium-range air-to-air weapon, and the P model, like the ones the Houthi rebels are putting to use, use passive infrared homing.

This means that if the targeted aircraft isn't equipped with missile launch detectors, and only the Saudi's newest and most advanced F-15s are, the F-15SA, and the aircrew does not spot the missile as it ascends towards them, they would have no indication of an impending attack until it is too late.

The missile's high speed also makes reaction time highly limited, as you can see in the video. In this case the missile's incoming vector was from below and behind the jet on its left side, meaning it was likely not seen nor detected before it detonated very near the targeted aircraft. There is also intelligence that shows short-range R-73 air-to-air missiles have also been adapted into SAMs. Employing one of these weapons would be more challenging due to its more limited range, which is exacerbated by the fact that it is launched from the ground and without a booster, making what is already a limited-range air-to-air missile much more limited in terms of reach.

Many to believe that Iran is actively helping with the Houthi's missile conversion initiative, which makes perfect sense as they have helped with supplying or adapting other advanced weapons for the Houthis to use in the past. These have including everything from anti-ship missiles and explosive-packed drone boats, to ballistic missiles, to 'suicidal drones that target air defense systems. At the same time, some analysts think these conversions could be done by ex-Yemeni Air Force engineers who are familiar with the servicing the missiles. As for where the missiles came from themselves, they were looted from air bases in the western part of country as the Yemeni civil war kicked off. Yemen's now largely shattered air force flew dozens of fairly advanced MiG-29SMTs, the first of which were delivered in the mid 2000s. The primary air-to-air armament for those multi-role jets were R-73E and R-27T missiles.

It's unknown how many of these missiles have survived three years of incredibly bloody conflict, but clearly some of them have. And considering they didn't have to be smuggled into the country, they offer Houthi fighters and possibly the powers that be in Tehran an attractive anti-air resource in which to badger coalition fighter aircraft. If the events of the last few months are any indication, we haven't seen the last of these jury-rigged Houthi SAMs.</s>DUBAI, March 22 (Reuters) - An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen killed ten civilians, including women and children, in the northern province of Saada on Thursday, residents and medics said.

Saudi Arabia's military alliance intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 against Iran-aligned Houthis who had ousted the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The alliance has conducted frequent air strikes targeting Houthi fighters and has often hit civilians, although it denies ever doing so intentionally. Saada province is the main stronghold of the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen.

Medics who saw the wreckage said an air strike had destroyed a house in Ouled Amer village.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than 2 million and driven the country - already the poorest on the Arabian Peninsula - to the verge of famine.</s>“The Saudis are trying to use a brick to smash an anvil. They will destroy themselves, not Yemen.”

That’s how one of Yemen’s more prominent tribal sheikhs described Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. The war will enter its fourth year this month. Its primary supporter, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, boasted that it would last weeks or perhaps a few months.

The campaign, which was christened “Operation Decisive Storm,” was meant to show off Saudi Arabia’s military might by rapidly defeating the Houthi rebels—who enjoy limited Iranian support—and reinstalling Yemen’s exiled president, Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi.

The war, which is commonly referred to in Saudi Arabia as Muhammad bin Salman’s war, was meant to mark the ambitious young prince’s debut on both the national and international stages. It was also supposed to check what Saudi Arabia views as growing Iranian influence in the region.

Instead, it’s shown Saudi Arabia’s lavishly funded and equipped army to be a paper tiger incapable of even defending the Kingdom’s southern border from sandal-clad rebels equipped with nothing more than light and medium arms. Rather than checking Iranian influence, the war may force the Houthis, whose relationship with Iran has heretofore been limited, to enhance their dealings with Tehran. Most critically, it has resulted in what could be the permanent fragmentation of Yemen. That country’s strategic location along the Bab al-Mandab, just across from the Horn of Africa, and long border with Saudi Arabia mean that the instability in Yemen will be hard, if not impossible, to contain.

This instability and a plethora of unintended and unforeseen consequences are already in evidence along the Saudi-Yemeni border. Saudi Arabia’s military has thus far been unable to secure that border.

Hours of footage of the Houthis’ retaliatory attacks on Saudi border posts and other military installations well inside the Saudi provinces of Najran, Jizan, and Asir have been posted on YouTube and other sites. In many of these videos, Saudi forces, even though they are equipped with M1 Abrams tanks and armored personnel carriers, flee in disarray when engaged by a handful of Houthis armed with RPGs and Kalashnikovs.

These southern Saudi provinces are home to restive and frequently oppressed religious minorities that include Zaidis and Ismailis—both of which are branches of Shi’ism that are different from the predominate branch in Iran. The Saudi government has little control over parts of these provinces and, as such, they are ripe for revolt if there is weakness within the House of Saud. Thousands of Yemenis who have had their livelihoods and loved ones destroyed by Saudi bombs would be quick to aid such a revolt.

Rather than relying on its poorly trained and ineffective army, Saudi Arabia has used its air force to pummel Yemen. The Saudi-led campaign, which is reliant on mid-air refueling capabilities from the U.S., has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, targeted and destroyed much of Yemen’s once-productive farmland, and killed hundreds of civilians. As a result of the air war and sanctions, Yemen now faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 80 percent of Yemen’s population of 26 million requires urgent aid. Photos and videos of starving children and emaciated adults are in clear evidence on Twitter and international news sites.

In South Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and UAE backed militias—ranging from southern separatists to militant Salafi groups that are indistinguishable from al-Qaeda—are competing with one another to secure influence and access to the weapons and materiel provided by their backers. Aden, the de-facto capital for Yemen’s powerless government in exile, is now the scene of almost daily assassinations and bombings. The most recent attack on February 24 involved two Islamic State suicide bombers and killed 14 people. Most of the assassinations, which have targeted clerics, security personnel, and tribal elites, are unclaimed.

There is almost no place in the south that is secure against these kinds of attacks. Only in the north, where the Houthis are allied with Yemen’s former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, is there a semblance of security. But there, the Houthis increasingly rule with an iron fist. They have targeted journalists and, in the wake of the assassination of Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, for which the Houthis were responsible, executed many of Saleh’s supporters.

Still, many in northern Yemen respect the Houthis for their continued ability to defy Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both of which are increasingly viewed as colonizers by Yemenis in the north and the south. Yemenis living in the north also fear the chaos and violence that could engulf their home if the Houthis are defeated.

The Houthis and the parts of the Yemeni army that are allied with them have acted as an effective bulwark against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State. Prior to the start of “Operation Decisive Storm,” a Houthi-led offensive against AQAP had weakened the organization in a number of its traditional strongholds. Now, AQAP is resurgent across much of southern Yemen where its operatives are overtly and covertly enmeshed with many of the anti-Houthi forces.

To combat a resurgent AQAP, the UAE and its proxy forces have launched a new campaign aptly named “Operation Decisive Sword.” Given the deepening humanitarian crisis and ever-increasing factionalism in Yemen, Operation Decisive Sword will be no more decisive than Muhammad bin Salman’s Operation Decisive Storm. What may well be decisive is the defeat of both Saudi and Emirati ambitions in Yemen.

It is estimated that the war in Yemen is costing Saudi Arabia $5 to $6 billion a month. This comes at a time when the Kingdom is already struggling to maintain its generous social welfare programs that are critical to the House of Saud’s continued hold on power.

The UAE, too, is spending billions in Yemen, much of it on the private military contractors that are helping it run its war. In the case of the UAE, the government seems to view the billions that it is spending as an investment that will allow it to carve out a permanent sphere of influence in Yemen. The UAE, perhaps more than Saudi Arabia, recognizes that Yemen is incredibly valuable real estate. The governorates where the UAE and its proxies are most active are the areas that are richest in natural resources.

However, it is only a matter of time until the UAE-backed militias turn on their patron. The rhetoric in southern Yemen is already infused with descriptions of the UAE as a neo-colonial power intent on asset stripping. The UAE has already set up a military base on the once-pristine Yemeni island of Socotra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has also set up permanent bases on the Yemeni island of Perim in the Red Sea. Social media in Yemen is rife with pictures of UAE military parades in Socotra, of the base in Perim, and, most recently, a photo of dozens of dragon’s blood trees, native to Socotra, that had been stripped from the island. No doubt the threatened trees are destined to become part of the landscaping for a palace somewhere in the Gulf. These kinds of photos, along with the abuses perpetrated by the UAE and their proxies, will in time produce a violent reaction.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE should have examined the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both countries, despite having the best trained and equipped military in the world, the U.S. has failed to achieve its aims. In the case of Iraq, a deeply flawed strategy ended up empowering Iran by turning much of Iraq into a satellite state. In Afghanistan, the war has resulted in the deaths of nearly 2,300 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Afghans. It has also cost the U.S. well over a trillion dollars. Despite the expenditure of lives and treasure, the Taliban—who are active in 70 percent of Afghanistan’s provinces—are on track to once again become the preeminent power.

The U.S. can absorb these losses because of the size of its economy, the strength of its military, and the complacency of much of its population. Countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE will find it far more difficult to sustain a war effort that does not yield results. On account of their proximity to Yemen, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are far more likely to experience significant and direct blowback from a war that has made tens of thousands of well-armed Yemenis their enemies.

Yemen is an anvil against which a number of invaders have thrown themselves only to be left bloodied and defeated. From the Romans in 25 BC to the Egyptians in the 1960s, Yemen has long resisted invaders. The governments of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE would do well to recognize that their adventure is far more likely to break them than the Yemenis who have defied occupiers and invading armies for centuries.

As the always astute Yemeni commentator Haykal Bafana argues:

Outsiders may not understand Yemen but Yemenis certainly do and it is they who will, in time, have to end the conflict and begin rebuilding their country. The longer outside powers are in Yemen, the longer this process will be put off and the more danger will be posed to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.</s>JEDDAH: A coalition jet fighter on a mission in Yemen was ‘intercepted’ by hostile fire but managed to return safe to base, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting for the Legitimacy in Yemen said on Wednesday.

Col. Staff Turki Al-Turki said the incident, which happened at 3:48 p.m. on Wednesday, saw a coalition fighter jet targeted by a hostile missile launched from Yemen’s Saada airport. The jet managed to return fire as well as complete its mission, the Saudi Press Agency reported. 

Al-Turki said the missile used was not part of the Yemeni air defense capabilities as they have been destroyed by the coalition, but evidence that the Iranian regime is continuing to smuggle "qualitative field capabilities" to the Houthis in a flagrant challenge to the world community resolutions, including UN Resolution No. 2216.

He said that the possession of new air defense missiles at the hands of the terror organizations is considered a serious development and a direct threat to air navigation and relief and humanitarian travel.
Houthis claim to have shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jet over Sa'da province, Yemen.