Yemen's Houthi rebels shoot down 'US-made spy' drone

Sanaa, Aug 15 Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down a "US-made spy drone" belonging to the Saudi-led coalition while it was hovering over their positions in the central province of Marib.

"Our forces shot down the spy drone over Medghal district," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted the spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying on Saturday.

On August 12, the Yemeni government army backed by the coalition recaptured and secured the highway linking Al-Kasarah area, about 18 km west of Marib central city, with the northwestern district of Medghal after deadly battles with the rebels.

The Houthis began in February a major offensive on Marib in an attempt to seize control of the oil-rich province.

The UN has warned that the offensive on Marib, which hosts nearly 1 million internally displaced people, could lead to a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Yemen's civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.

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