RSAF F-15C landing at an airbase in Saudi Arabia.
On September 5, the Saudi-led coalition shared footage showing the successful interception of three suicided drones of the Houthis (Ansar Allah).
The suicide drones were apparently intercepted and shot down by warplanes of the Royal Saudi Air Force with air-to-air missiles.
قيادة القوات المشتركة للتحالف “تحالف دعم الشرعية في اليمن” تعرض لقطات لتدمير وإسقاط الطائرات دون طيار المفخخة التي أطلقتها الميليشيا الحوثية الإرهابية تجاه المملكة يوم أمس لاستهداف المدنيين والأعيان المدنية. #واس_عام pic.twitter.com/296Eh3Hkdb
— واس العام (@SPAregions) September 5, 2021
#فيديو pic.twitter.com/jdGBQ10OM2
— واس العام (@SPAregions) September 5, 2021
According to the Saudi-led coalition, the drones seen in the footage were launched towards the Kingdom late on September 4 as a part of a large-scale attack by the Houthis. The Yemen group said that the attack, codenamed “Operation Deterrent Balance 7,” targeted “vital facilities” of oil giant Aramco in eastern, western and southern Saudi Arabia.
Nevertheless, the footage released by the coalition are not in line with the information that was revealed by the Houthis after the attack.
The Yemeni group said that Samad-3 suicided drones were used in the large-scale attack. Yet, the drones seen in the Saudi-led coalition’s videos appear to be of the Qase-2K type, which is a copy of the Iranian Ababil-2 drone. The videos may be from older interceptions.
The Qasef-2K drone. Click to see full-size image.
The Samad-3 drone. Click to see full-size image
The Houthis launched during their attack ten Samad-3 suicide drone, a Zulfiqar ballistic missile and five Badir artillery rockets. From its side, the Saudi-led coalition said that three drones and three missiles were intercepted.
Operation Deterrent Balance 7 confirmed that the Houthis are still capable of attacking high-value targets deep inside Saudi Arabia.
