Yemen's Houthi rebels shoot down 'US-made spy' drone

Sanaa, Aug 15 (IANS) Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down a "US-made spy drone" belonging to the Saudi-led coalition while it was hovering over their positions in the central province of Marib."Our forces shot down the spy drone over Medghal district," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted the spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying on Saturday.On August 12, the Yemeni government army backed by the coalition recaptured and secured the highway linking Al-Kasarah area, about 18 km west of Marib central city, with the northwestern district of Medghal after deadly battles with the rebels.The Houthis began in February a major offensive on Marib in an attempt to seize control of the oil-rich province.The UN has warned that the offensive on Marib, which hosts nearly 1 million internally displaced people, could lead to a major humanitarian catastrophe.Yemen's civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of much of the country's north 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/