[image: Tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels ride on a patrol truck during agathering aimed at mobilizing more fighters into battlefronts in severalYemeni cities, in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.]

SANAA – Yemen’s Houthi rebels have downed Saudi Arabia’s militaryhelicopter in Jizan province in the south-west of the kingdom, a militarysource in the Yemeni Defense Ministry told Sputnik on Thursday, adding thatall crew members have been killed in the crash.

“Air defense of Ansar Allah [Houthi movement] has downed an Apachehelicopter of the Saudi army while it was flying over Jahfan in Jizan[province],” the source said.

All crew members have been killed in the crash, according to the source.

Riyadh has not commented on the issue yet.

[image: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom ofSaudi, Arabia Raed bin Khaled Qrimli at the ceremony to present credentialsof foreign ambassadors to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The GrandKremlin Palace’s Alexander Hall]© SPUTNIK/ ALEThe accident took place hours after Houthi militants claimed they hadstruck down an Arab coalition drone on Wednesday night over thesouthwestern Saudi region of Asir.

The attacks occur amid the reported attempts by Yemeni governmentforces and the Saudi-led coalition to seize Al-Hudaydah, a strategicstronghold of the Houthislink>anda key entry point for humanitarian aid. As Yemeni Prime Minister AhmedDaghr stated, cited by Anadolu, the combined troops have already liberated85 percent of the territory seized by the Houthis.

Last week, the spokesman for the Arab coalition reported that SaudiArabia’s air defense forces destroyed a ballistic missilelink>launchedby Yemeni Houthi rebels over Jizan province, which regularly comesunder missile bombardment of the Houthis. According to Saudi Arabian Envoyto the United States Khalid bin Salman, the Houthis had fired 140 missilesat Saudi targets since the start of the military conflict in March 2015.