Yemen: Houthis claim downing of Tornado fighter jet; 30 killed inspecting wreckage

The Houthi rebel group claimed on Saturday that it downed a Tornado fighter jet belonging to the Arab coalition, reported Anadolu Agency.

Speaking on Houthis-run Al-Masirah television, spokesman Yahya Saree said the jet was downed in Al-Jawf governorate in northern Yemen by a ground-to-air missile launched by air defense systems.

No statement has yet been made from coalition forces, regarding the claim.

Shortly afterwards,  Al-Masirah reported that dozens were killed in an airstrike, at the location of the downed jet.

“Thirty people were killed as an initial death toll as a result of the raids,” Yusuf al-Hadiri, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said in statements cited by Al-Masirah television.

According to the Houti-run television, the Saudi-led coalition conducted air strikes, targeting a group of people checking the wreckage of the  Tornado fighter jet downed.

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 a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, believed to have been killed in the conflict since then, while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.

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