Houthi Forces Claim They've Shot Down a Saudi Helicopter

DOHA (Sputnik) - The members of the Houthi movement, operating in Yemen, have shot down a Saudi helicopter near the border with Saudi Arabia, Yahya Sarea, the group's military spokesman, said on Friday.

"Yemeni air defences have been able, thanks to God, to shoot down a Saudi Apache aircraft with a new surface-to-air missile, which we will reveal later," Sarea said in a statement, as quoted by Yemeni Almasirah media network.

The incident is said to have occurred near the border with the Saudi region of Asir, which borders the northern part of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia hasn't confirmed the claims yet.

Earlier in the month, the Houthi militia claimed that they had "intercepted" an F-15 jet belonging to a Saudi-led coalition member force. A spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen, Lt. Col. Turki Al-Maliki, however, refuted the claims later.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the rebel Houthi movement for several years now. A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.