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Posted on 09/18/2026 6:27:25 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Footage verified by the BBC shows the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet which the Iran-backed Houthi group says it shot down over Yemen.
BBC Verify was able to pinpoint the crash site to an isolated location in the hills west of the Yemeni city of Marib.
The long-running conflict between a Saudi-led military coalition and the Houthis has escalated in the last week after the armed group launched an offensive against pro-government forces.
This led to the Houthis seizing key territory near the south-west coast, close to vital international shipping channels in the Bab al-Mandab strait.
In one of several video clips released by the Houthis, men with assault rifles can be seen at the crash site inspecting the wreckage. The fighters celebrate as they lift the jet's almost-intact tail fin which features the Saudi flag and a four-digit serial number.
The aircraft in the wreckage has been independently identified by Nick Brown, a weapons expert from military intelligence company Janes, as an F-15 Strike Eagle.
The four-digit tail number visible on the wreckage also appears to be consistent with that of an F-15 Strike Eagle operated by the 55th Squadron of the Royal Saudi Air Force based at King Khalid Air Base near the city of Khamis Mushait in south-west Saudi Arabia.
This base, about 245 miles (392 km) from the crash site, was targeted last week by what the Houthis described as a "barrage of missiles and drones". Satellite imagery analysed by BBC Verify appears to show damage to at least three aircraft hangars or shelters.
The base is one of a series of high-profile Saudi targets struck by the Houthis in recent days including an oil refinery in the city of Jizan.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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I’d never thought I’d find myself rooting for the Saudis. But I am.
What it doesn’t prove it that the jet was shot down. The tail was intact while the rest disentegrated, so it is more likely that it developed engine trouble and crashed. However, the Houthis will never miss an opportunity to take advantage of someone elses poor maintenance.
Can you say burned to a crisp? Reminds me of the left-over helicopter during the Osama raid that they turned to dust before departing.
Did the pilots eject safely?
The article says they don’t know what happened to pilots at all.
Like it self destructed? I doubt that it was some type of strike by the Houthis. Maxafterburner, a former F15 Jock was describing his thoughts about it as independently blown up, either by self destruction, or after it was on the ground. He did not think it was a strike by the Houthis, and he knows a hell of a lot more about it than I do. So I will give him a little credit. Houthis? DOUBTFUL.
OK, so if you’re right and there was engine trouble, they probably ejected? Maybe they were rescued? Maybe we will find out more later.
Just like the NYTimes showing footage of US jets shot down in NVietnam — HanoiJane loved it. Typical BBC, always on the wrong side of most anything.
Trump just approved the sale of F-35’s to the Saudis. What’s to keep one of their rogue pilots to defect and give the plane to the mullahs in Iran or the Russians? Perhaps a limited fuel intake.
Real information is hard to come by, especially since the Saudis and Houthis are involved. When (and if) CENTCOM comments on it, then I will believe it.
Looks like significant gravity damage to me.
fUCHN rich ass entitled asholes (COWARDS and retards Goat Fers) given almost the best of our best and they cant fight, they can fly! And the rest of the ME countries opposed to the persians? WORTHLESS!!!
Oh but Trump told the Israelis after they got him through the 1st attacks on Iran? Back off and stay out of it!
Hard to tell from those pics...
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