Moroccan F-16 jet shot down during Yemen raid, Houthi rebels say

'Downed jet' comes a day before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was to begin

An image taken from the Huthi rebel television station Al-Masira shows Yemeni tribesmen celebrating around the wreckage of a plane bearing a Moroccan flag, in the the Wadi Nushur area in the north Yemen's province of Saada (AFP/Getty)

Houthi rebels in Yemen claim to have shot down a Moroccan F-16 fighter jet taking part in a Saudi-led coalition targeting them and their allies a day before a five-day humanitarian ceasefire was to begin.

Morocco’s military, however, would only say that the jet had gone missing early on Sunday evening, but a Moroccan online news site with close ties to the royal palace and security and intelligence services said the downed aircraft was one of two that flew out of a base in the United Arab Emirates.

The purported downing of the jet fighter came as a Saudi-owned news channel, al-Hadath, aired live footage of tanks and armoured personnel carriers loaded onto giant trucks, saying they were part of a “strike force” deploying to the kingdom’s border with Yemen. There have been no signs to suggest that a ground offensive was imminent, although the coalition has not ruled one out.

Yemeni security officials, meanwhile, said Sanaa came under heavy air bombardment, with the primary target being weapons and ammunition depots on Noqom mountain on the city’s north-eastern outskirts.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the explosions were the strongest in the capital since the air campaign began.

The raging conflict in Yemen has killed over 1,400 people – many of them civilians – since 19 March, according to the United Nations. The ceasefire, scheduled to begin at 11pm local time today, would help ease the suffering of civilians in the Arab world’s poorest country.

AP