A fighter aircraft of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) part of the coalition striking Houthi rebels in Yemen, which was said to have gone missing Monday, reportedly crashed into a mountain. Two pilots on board were killed, Saudi Arabia's media reported.
UAE's armed forces had earlier said the plane was "lost" while on a mission. The UAE is part of a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that has been conducting airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen since last year. Two F-16 fighter jets, of the Moroccan and Bahrain forces, have crashed in Yemen in recent months.
"The General Command of the Armed Forces today announced the loss of a fighter aircraft while participating in the Saudi-led Arab Coalition's Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen," the state news agency WAM reports. Local authorities found the wreckage of the plane, which is said to have crashed due to "technical difficulties."
Earlier this month, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said nearly 85 percent of the war-torn country has been taken back from the Houthi rebels.The Saudi-led coalition's Operation Decisive Storm has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties in Yemen in the past year.
