The military spokesman for the Houthi group said that a Saudi spy plane was shot down in the Al-Salif area in Al-Hodeidah Governorate (west), hours after another plane was shot down in the north of the country.
The spokesman, Yahya Sari, indicated that the plane that was shot down in the west of the country was targeted by a surface-to-air missile, while it was conducting espionage activities in violation of the agreement of Sweden.
He confirmed that the airspace is no longer permitted, and that targeting and shooting down the plane is an inauguration of the Air Defense Year, as he described it.
The air defenses had shot down earlier yesterday, another spy plane was carrying out "hostilities" in the atmosphere of the district of Razih in Saada.
According to Al Masirah TV, quoting a military source, the Houthi air defenses shot down nine aircraft in December and seventy during the year 2019.
On Sunday, Sa`ri confirmed in a press conference that "this year, the group's forces managed to snipe 228 Saudi soldiers and officers, in addition to sniping 142 Sudanese."
He said, "More than 16,000 troops affiliated with and loyal to the legitimate Yemeni government were also sniped during the same period."
"The group's total missile force operations during 2019 amounted to 110 ballistic missile launches," he added.
Saudi Arabia is leading a military alliance against the Houthis in support of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is residing almost permanently in the capital of the Kingdom of Riyadh, after the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014.