Yemen: Al-Jawf and Al-Baida battles continue, and the Houthis announced the downing of a coalition spy plane

Military sources said that the Houthis took control of a strategic crossroads linking the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, with the Ma'rib Governorate, adding that the Houthis were now in control of large parts of Al-Jawf governorate.

The Houthis are seeking - according to the sources - to besiege the city of Al-Hazm, the center of Al-Jawf Governorate from the western and northern axes, while fighting continues between the Houthis and the National Army in the Directorate of Nehm, east of Sanaa and Al-Jawf Governorate.

Meanwhile, 14 Houthi militants were killed and others were injured, and one Yemeni army soldier was killed and two wounded during clashes in the Qaniya front in Al-Bayda Governorate, in the center of the country.

Local sources said that the battles erupted after the Houthis attacked the Al-Khudar and Al-Aar locations in the Qaniya front, but the National Army forces repelled the attack that left the dead and wounded, most of them Houthi militants, this comes after renewed confrontations between the two parties on a number of fronts in Al-Bayda governorate.

Spy plane
In a later development, the Houthi group said today, Tuesday, that it had shot down an Arab coalition spy plane in Saada Governorate, the group's main stronghold in the north of the country.

The Al-Masirah channel, speaking for the Houthis, stated - in a brief news - that the group's militants shot down an Arab coalition spy plane in the Malahit area, off Jizan Saudi Arabia. She added that the plane was shot down with an appropriate weapon, without mentioning its nature or other details.

On the other hand, Yemeni military sources reported that nine soldiers of the army were killed in an air strike by the Saudi-Emirati coalition in the Al-Jouf Junction.

Security Council
In New York, the United Nations Security Council is convening, at the invitation of Britain, a closed meeting this afternoon, to discuss the renewed fighting in Yemen, according to diplomatic sources.

One of these sources said that the closed meeting will be punctuated by a video intervention by the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, in which members of the Council will be informed of the latest developments in this country, and it is possible that at the end of the meeting a presidential statement will be issued unanimously by the 15 members of the Security Council.

The battles in Yemen renewed on January 17 after months of relative calm, and military sources reported dozens of deaths in the battles during the past 48 hours, without revealing clear numbers.