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Hothi Rebels Shoot Down Saudi Fighter in Yemen

SANAA: A Saudi-UAE-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels has confirmed that one of its fighter jets went down in the war-torn country.

The Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado aircraft “crashed” in the northern al-Jawf province during an operation to support Yemeni government forces, the coalition said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.

The statement came after a spokesman for the Houthis said the group’s fighters had downed a Tornado jet belonging to “enemy forces” in the same province, according to a statement carried by their broadcaster Al Masirah TV on Friday.

Yahya Saria also said the plane was downed with an advanced surface-to-air missile.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said it would be a “very significant” development in Yemen’s long-running war if the Houthis shot down the jet.

“If they would have such a capability of missile batteries or land-to-air capacity against the Saudi air force, that would be a game-changer,” he said.