A Bahraini Fighter Jet Crashed Near the Yemen Border in Southern Saudi Arabia

The Arab coalition formed to counter the Houthis and their allies in Yemen announced on Wednesday, January 9, that a Bahraini F-16 fighter jet crashed due to a technical malfunction in the Jazan region of southern Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the pilot of the jet survived the incident. Bahrain is one of the countries that is a member of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which has been bombing Houthi positions and their allies who have seized large areas of Yemen for about nine months. Since the beginning of these conflicts, dozens of military personnel from the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia have been killed in Yemen. A day earlier, the official Bahrain news agency reported that three Bahraini soldiers were killed in an incident in the border areas of southern Saudi Arabia, but did not provide further details. In another report, SPA announced that Saudi air defense forces intercepted a Scud ballistic missile fired from Yemen towards the city of Jazan in mid-air. The report added that the missile launch did not result in any casualties or material damage. In contrast, the Saba news agency, managed by the Houthis, reported that the missile was fired towards the port of Jazan and hit its target. This is the latest ballistic missile launched by Houthi militants towards Saudi Arabia, and there have been no reports of casualties following these missile launches. The Arab coalition forces and the supporters of Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi have managed to take several strategic areas from the control of the Houthis and their allies. The war in Yemen has so far left around six thousand dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Saudi Arabia and its allies claim that the Houthis are fighting on behalf of Iran, a claim that the Houthis and Tehran deny.