The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen claimed Wednesday that they shot down a Saudi Arabian F-15 fighter jet, releasing dramatic video and photographs that they say show the aircraft being targeted and its wreckage on the ground.

The claim has not been independently verified, and Saudi Arabia has not yet publicly confirmed the loss of an aircraft.

Footage released by the Houthis’ military media and broadcast by the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah network appears to show an aircraft being tracked by a targeting system before a missile is launched.

The video then cuts to burning wreckage that the Houthis claim belongs to the Saudi fighter jet.

Additional photographs released by the terror group show six armed Houthi fighters celebrating around charred aircraft debris in rocky terrain. One large piece of wreckage, apparently part of the aircraft’s tail section, bears a Saudi flag.

“We are now publishing footage showing the downing of the aircraft and its wreckage,” the Houthis claimed in an official statement.

The reported shootdown comes amid a major escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with the Yemen-based terror group launching missiles and drones toward Saudi territory and the Saudi Air Force responding with strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The renewed fighting has sharply escalated tensions across the Arabian Peninsula after several years in which direct hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis had largely subsided.

If independently confirmed, the destruction of a Saudi F-15 would represent a significant development in the renewed conflict and raise fresh questions about the Houthis’ expanding air-defense capabilities.

Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the Houthis’ latest claim.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)