A Yemeni soldier mans a machine gun mounted on a military patrol truck on the coast of Bab al-Mandeb, Yemen April 2, 2026. (Credit: Reuters)
The Saudi-led coalition announced Sunday that two pilots had been killed in a helicopter crash near the Yemeni border, the first military fatalities since hostilities with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis resumed in July, according to AFP.
“An AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter belonging to the National Guard crashed ... on Saudi territory in the Najran region after a technical malfunction, killing the two officers who were on board,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
On Saturday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed that his forces had “shot down a Saudi enemy Apache helicopter” in the same region.
Early Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted two drones over the Riyadh region and a third over the oil-rich Eastern Province, after issuing air threat alerts to residents of the capital. It also reported intercepting two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday, the Houthis reported that 12 people, including three children, had been killed in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.
Cross-border attacks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have intensified since hostilities resumed in July, opening a new front in the wider Middle East war. The conflict between Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by Riyadh, and the Houthis began in 2014.
Hostilities escalated in September, with the Houthis seizing control of parts of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and launching attacks on Saudi Arabia, including against oil infrastructure and airports.
On Oct. 10, a Houthi attack on Riyadh airport killed 13 people and wounded hundreds, marking the deadliest military operation on Saudi soil in more than a decade.
