Houthi rebels shoot down Saudi-led coalition drone

Sanaa, May 24 (IANS) Yemen's Houthi rebels have shot down a drone of the Saudi-led coalition forces near the border with the Kingdom, the militia-run al-Masirah TV reported."A surface-to-air missile downed the drone over the area of al-Marazik in al-Jawf Province," Xinhua news agency quoted Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying on al-Masirah TV on Sunday.The Saudi-led coalition has made no comment yet.The Iran-backed Houthi militia has ramped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia since February when the group began a major offensive against the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government army to capture the oil-rich province of Marib.Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.
--IANS ksk/