Saudi Arabia yesterday blamed a “technical fault” for forcing two of its pilots in an F-15 fighter jet to eject over waters south of Yemen during a mission amid a bombing campaign targeting Shiite rebels in the country.
The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the pilots were in “good health” after ejecting on Thursday. It said the US offered aid to rescue the airmen.
A US Department of Defense official told reporters that a US helicopter flew on Thursday from neighboring Djibouti to the Gulf of Aden and rescued the airmen.
The official says the destroyer USS Sterett coordinated assets from the US naval base in Djibouti and the amphibious transport dock USS New York.
The US official spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to brief journalists by name.
Saudi Arabia and fellow Sunni-led allies in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East are bombing the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis.
They view the Houthi takeover of Yemen as an attempt by Iran to establish a proxy on the kingdom’s southern border.
Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, although it says it provides diplomatic and humanitarian support.
Washington says the US is providing refueling tankers and surveillance flights for the Saudi operations, and there are several US troops working in the operations center, but the US is not taking direct military action in the Persian Gulf campaign.
At least 24 civilians were killed in Friday’s strikes, bringing the toll from two days to 45 civilians, the Houthi-run Ministry of the Interior said. The Houthis’ TV station showed footage from a market in Sadah it said was struck by missiles, with images of charred bodies and wrecked vehicles.
Yemeni security officials said around 80 fighters from Houthi or Saleh forces have been killed in the strikes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
By Friday afternoon, more than 40 percent of Yemen’s air defenses were destroyed, according to Yemeni Brigadier Geneneral Saleh al-Subaihi, who supports embattled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country.
The figures of civilian and combatant casualties could not be independently confirmed.
Also on Friday, Saudi and Egyptian warships deployed to Bab al-Mandeb, the strategic strait off Yemen at the entrance of the Red Sea, Egyptian military officials said.
The strait gives the only access to Egypt’s Suez Canal from the Arabian Sea and is a vital passage for shipping between Europe and Asia.
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