(Photo credit: Stephan de Bruijn/Airhistory.net)
The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced on 9 December that the country’s air defense systems intercepted an F15 warplane belonging to the Saudi Air Force over Marib province.
1-This afternoon ,our air defenses carried out an operation to intercept and confront an F15 warplane belonging to the Saudi Air Force while it was carrying out hostile acts in the airspace of the Juba area in Ma’rib governorate and forcing it to leave the airspace.
— Yahya Sare'e (@Yahya_Saree) December 9, 2021
According to Saree, the Saudi jet was forced to leave the airspace of Juba in the oil-rich province thanks to a “locally-made Fater 1 surface-to-air missile.” The spokesman added that footage from the incident will soon be released.
The failed attack by the Saudi-led coalition came less than 24 hours after Riyadh’s forces launched three raids on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, targeting rural water network installations and communication towers.
Yemen’s Ministry of Water and Environment condemned the Saudi-led coalition for “continuing to destroy the infrastructure of the water and environment sector,” calling it a “flagrant violation of international and humanitarian norms, charters, and laws.”
“This attack confirms the inability and bankruptcy of the aggression coalition to achieve any gains on the field,” the statement released by the Ministry of Water and Environment reads.
Over the past seven years, Yemen’s water network has been targeted multiple times by the Saudi-led coalition, costing the Yemeni government billions of dollars in repairs.
“We worked to restore as many facilities as possible,” the country’s Minister of Water and Environment Abdul-Raqeeb al-Shurmani told Yemeni media on 9 December.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a brutal war in the Arab world’s poorest country, causing what the UN has described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” The brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the seven-year war has also cost Riyadh upwards of $100 billion dollars.