Yemeni forces down Saudi helicopter in Hudaydah province

Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from Popular Committees have shot down an Apache helicopter operated by Saudi Arabia in the western province of Hudaydah, a report says.

The chopper was brought down in Hudaydah’s Bayt al-Faqih district on Thursday, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

On January 25, the Yemeni forces shot down another Apache helicopter belonging to the so-called Saudi-led coalition in Dhubab neighborhood of Yemen's Ta'izz province.

Separately on Thursday, al-Masirah reported that a Saudi trooper had been killed in the al-Dukhan military base in the kingdom’s southwestern Jizan region.

Nine other Saudi soldiers lost their lives in several places across Saudi Arabia's southern region, including Jizan’s al-Dafinah village.

According to later reports, one of the slain soldiers came form the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Some 85 Emirati soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen two years ago.

Additionally on Thursday, Yemeni fighters managed to thwart an attack by Saudi mercenaries on a border crossing near Saudi Arabia's southern region of Najran and inflicted heavy losses on them.

Yemeni sources said a number of Saudi mercenaries were killed and injured in Najran’s al-Khazra' crossing following a mine explosion.

Elsewhere, Saudi mercenaries shot dead a Yemeni woman in the town of Ma'afir in Yemen's Ta'izz province.

SS