Saudi Coalition denies Houthi claim over helicopter crash

Shafaq News- Riyadh

Two Saudi officers were killed in a military helicopter crash in the southern Najran region, the Saudi-led Coalition said on Sunday, dismissing Houthi claims that its forces had shot down an Apache attack helicopter near the Yemeni border.

Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki Al-Malki attributed the crash of an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of National Guard to a technical malfunction.

Al-Malki separately reported the interception and destruction of two drones, one near Riyadh and another in the Eastern Province.

Houthi (Ansarallah) military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Saturday that the group had shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter while it was operating against Houthi positions near Najran, without specifying the weapon used.

Early Sunday, Saree announced the downing of a Saudi Karayel armed reconnaissance drone over Yemen’s Hajjah province, accusing it of conducting hostile operations. He identified it as the fourth aircraft of its type brought down since the latest escalation and the seventh since such drones began operating in Yemeni airspace.

He had accused Saudi forces of launching 53 airstrikes over the preceding 24 hours against what he characterized as civilian facilities in Sanaa, Taiz, Ibb, Lahj, Saada, and Amran. He said F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases had caused numerous civilian casualties, mostly women and children, putting the total number of Saudi air and missile strikes since the renewed escalation at 2,542.

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