Yemen: 31 civilians killed in raids after coalition plane crashes

Text by: RFI Follow

Coalition airstrikes responded to the crash of a Saudi military aircraft in the west of the country. No official explanation, but a demand: that of the Houthi rebellion which claims to have killed it.

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The Tornado type fighter plane crashed this Friday evening February 14, around midnight local time. The coalition spokesman did not give details on the reasons for the crash or the fate of his crew, but the Houthis did it.

The television channel close to this movement ensures that it was hit by a very sophisticated surface-to-air missile. This testifies, according to the spokesman of the insurgents, of the important improvement of the defense capabilities of the rebellion.

According to the United Nations, the Houthis, supported by Iran and Hezbollah, have acquired new weapons since 2019. Do they now have the know-how and sufficient equipment to counter the Saudi air force? Impossible to confirm, but it would be a first since the start of the conflict in 2015, unleashed after an offensive by Houthi rebels who captured large swathes of the territory, including the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led military coalition responded on Saturday with strikes in al-Jawf province. 31 civilians were killed and 12 injured, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

► Read also: Yemen: in a military impasse, Riyadh in search of dialogue with the Houthis

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• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia

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