Houthis Claim Shootdown of Saudi F‑15 Over Marib, Publish Footage of Wreckage
Yemen’s Houthi movement says it has shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F‑15 over Marib and has released images and video that it says show the wreckage, a rare loss for one of the region’s most advanced jets.
A reported Saudi F‑15 loss over central Yemen has put fresh attention on the risks Saudi aircraft face in the long‑running war.
Yemen’s Houthi movement, also known as Ansarallah, said it shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F‑15 over Marib province on the night of 15 September. Multiple pro‑Houthi outlets have since circulated video and photographs they say show the missile strike and the wreckage of the aircraft. An open‑source weapons analyst account suggested the group used a modified surface‑to‑air missile, possibly from the locally named Barq‑1 or Barq‑2, based on the Taer, or from the Thaqib missile family. Another report said the jet was an F‑15SA from the 55th Squadron at King Khalid Air Base, but Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed the loss or the unit.
Houthis have separately said they shot down a Saudi Wing Loong 2 armed surveillance drone over Marib while it was carrying out what they called hostile activities. Taken together, the claims describe an airspace where both high‑end fighter jets and modern drones can be brought down by a movement that began the war with almost no formal air‑defence system.
Some Yemeni social media posts have alleged that at least one pilot was captured, but there has been no official confirmation of the crew’s fate. What is clear is that Houthi fighters have posed with what they present as the jet’s twisted remains in Marib province, images aimed in part at Saudi audiences that have watched an expensive and protracted campaign in Yemen.
The incident also sits within a wider pattern. Houthi forces claim attacks on Aramco facilities and a Saudi air base, and they have released repeated footage of their own air‑defence and missile operations. Their official statement on the F‑15 says the aircraft was downed over Marib’s skies, and their media channels have highlighted the debris they say is from the jet.
The most telling signals now will come from Riyadh. Any change in Saudi flight profiles over Yemen, visible reduction in deep‑strike missions over Marib, or an official acknowledgment of the loss would show how seriously the kingdom treats this episode. Retaliatory strikes on Houthi air‑defence launch sites or command nodes would underline that Saudi planners see the claimed shootdown as more than an isolated mishap.
Sources
- OSINT