Yemeni Houthis reportedly down Saudi jet, raze border crossing

The F-16 Saudi-led coalition jet was reportedly shot down in the Bani Harith district of Sanaa, the capital, as heavy artillery fire blew up part of the main border crossing between Yemen and Saudi Arabia Saturday night. The Haradh border crossing for passengers and goods was evacuated when Houthi shells razed its departure lounge and passport section. Residents of several Yemeni villages in the area left their homes and fled from the frontier, which has turned into a front line between the kingdom and the Iran-allied rebels. DEBKAfile: If the Iranian report that the F-16 took off from Yemen’s al-Dalaimi air base in northwestern Yemen is correct, it would indicate that Saudi jets are now operating out of air bases inside Yemen and that the Yemeni air force has come down on the side of the exiled president Abd Rabbou Mansour Hadi. Until now, the Yemeni air force sat on the fence in the Houthi revolt against Hadi.