Moroccan F-16 fighter jet goes missing as five-day cease-fire in Yemen set to begin
May 11, – A Moroccan F-16 fighter jet involved in Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes against the Iran-allied Houthi rebels went missing in Yemen Sunday, the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces said in a statement early Monday.
Morocco, which has joined several other Gulf countries that are conducting airstrikes against the rebels, has six F-16 warplanes stationed in the Unites Arab Emirates.
“One of the F-16s of the Royal Armed Force (FAR) made at the disposal of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia to restore the legitimacy in Yemen went missing on Sunday at 6 pm local time,” according to FAR’s statement carried by the state news agency MAP, reported.
The pilot of a second plane in the same military unit did not see if the missing plane’s pilot ejected from the plane, the statement reportedly said, adding that an investigation into the incident is underway.
The news comes a day after Houthi fighters in Yemen accepted a five-day humanitarian ceasefire proposed by Saudi Arabia beginning Tuesday.
The Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on March 26, aiming to restore the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Yemen’s Shiite rebels and their allies in the country’s splintered armed forces said Sunday they would accept a five-day humanitarian cease-fire to allow aid to reach civilians after more than a month of daily airstrikes from a Saudi-led military coalition.
The cease-fire, scheduled to begin Tuesday, would help ease the suffering of civilians in the Arab world’s poorest country who increasingly lack food, fuel and medicine since the bombing campaign began March 26.
However, all sides in a conflict that’s seen the exile of Saudi- and Western-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi have warned they’ll retaliate if the cease-fire is broken.
On Sunday, state news agency SABA, which is under the control of the rebels known as Houthis, quoted Col. Sharaf Ghalib Luqman as saying rebels in the armed forces agreed with the cease-fire, warning against any violation of the truce. The Houthis earlier issued their own statement saying they will cooperate with the cease-fire, .
Saturday, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ali Asiri, the Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman, also warned that the cease-fire will be cancelled if the rebels violated it.
Meanwhile, Saudi-led strikes have continued in Yemen, with a residence of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital, Sanaa, reportedly hit. Social media accounts later posted pictures of what appeared to be Saleh speaking in front of his ruined home after the strike.
Press journalist for HRO media – Khizer Hayat reports.
Category: Arab uprising
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