Yemeni fighters target Saudi-led drone in Hudaydah

SANA’A (Agencies): A drone belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition has been intercepted and targeted by Yemeni forces as it was flying in the skies over the western coastal province of Hudaydah.

A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone was shot down while it was on a reconna-issance mission over the besieged city of Durayhimion Sunday afternoon.

Yemeni army forces are supported by allied fighters from the Popular C-ommittees. On February 8, they shot down a similar aircraft with a surface-to-air missile in Hudaydah skies.

An unnamed Yemeni military official censured the coalition at the time for breaching an agreement reached between the warring sides during a round of UN-sponsored peace negotiations in Sweden in December 2018.

Delegates from the Ansarullah movement and representatives loyal to former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi attended the peace negotiations in Rimbo on the outskirts of Stockholm. The talks resulted in the announcement of a breakthrough agreement. The document included three provisions: a ceasefire along the Hudaydah front and the redeployment of armed forces out of the city and its port; an agreement on prisoner exchange; and a statement of understanding on the southern Yemeni city of Ta’izz.

Also on Sunday, a child lost his life when artillery rounds and mortar shells fired by Saudi forces rained down on residential neighborhoods in the Razih district of the northwestern province of Sa’ada.

Separately, Saudi-led warplanes carried out three airstrikes against areas in the northern province of al-Jawf.