Houthis Claim Saudi Jet Shootdown, Blast Mecca Drone Reports as "Fabrications & Lies"
Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement has claimed to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet in a Wednesday statement, saying they utilized domestic made munitions to do it.
"The Yemeni Armed Forces, with Allah's aid and grace, succeeded in shooting down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet while it was carrying out hostile operations," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced.
He said the fighter jet had been targeted "using a locally made" missile over Marib - after the Saudi coalition has launched some 450 strikes. The area of the alleged downing is some 75 miles east of Sanaa.
Saudi authorities have not acknowledged any shootdown and have not immediately commented on the claim.
Overnight, the big news out of the conflict focused on Saudi claims that it had intercepted a Houthi drone targeting Yemen in a "heinous" act targeting Islam's holiest site.
However, the Houthis are vehemently denying sending a drone on Mecca. "Our operations target its oil facilities and military bases, which are far removed from the sacred sites," Saree said further.
The Houthi military spokesman called out the "fabrications and lies propagated by the criminal al-Saud regime cannot deceive anyone."
Missile alerts had been issued for the population of Mecca, and plenty of old and fake social media videos purported to capture footage of a drone inbound on Mecca, but so far no clear evidence has emerged of the alleged targeting.
But the Saudi claims were enough to get Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to condemn Wednesday "in the strongest possible terms the dastardly and heinous" the alleged attack on Mecca.
"The people of Pakistan are saddened and perturbed by this outrageous act," he said on X.
Unconfirmed image of downed jet posted by Iranian state media:
On Wednesday morning, Yemeni Army confirmed that it had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter aircraft over Marib Province. pic.twitter.com/4nk1d1DYi6
— IRNA News Agency ☫ (@IrnaEnglish) September 16, 2026
Pakistan and Turkey just recently this summer signed a comprehensive "Mecca Defense Pact", and the Saudi claims that Mecca was targeted by drone are perhaps intended to secure the help of allies in dealing with the advancing Houthis menace while a Red Sea 'siege for siege' policy is still in effect. As for the lates developments to emerge Wednesday, via Newsquawk:
Houthis say they carried out two military operations, targeting Saudi Aramco in Yanbu with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones and Khamis Mushait Air Base with a number of ballistic missiles.
The damaged Saudi East-West pipeline could still take five to six weeks to come back online, according to some estimates.