Yemeni army downs Houthi drone

By Mehmet Nuri Ucar

TAIZ, Yemen (AA) - Yemeni army announced on Thursday it had downed a Houthi drone in southwestern Yemen.

Houthi militias carried out an attack on a military post belonging to the Yemeni army in the al-Birah region of Taiz province, the al-Amalika Brigade said in a statement.

No casualties were reported, the statement said.

A Houthi drone spotted in the sky was shot down by the army, it said.

The Houthi group is yet to comment on the coalition statement. However, the group regularly announces rocket and drone attacks on Saudi territories, saying they are a reaction to the Saudi-led coalition’s assault on Yemen.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict in Yemen has so far claimed the lives of 233,000 people.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz