Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from the Popular Committees, have intercepted and targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition while flying in the skies over Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.

The media bureau of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces and their allies shot down the Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong drone with a surface-to-air missile on Friday afternoon.

The statement added that the drone was struck as it was on a surveillance mission over Bani Muadh area in the Sahar district of the province. It was armed with air-to-surface weapons.

Earlier in the day, Yemeni soldiers and fighters from the Popular Committees had targeted a position of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi at Hakoulah base of the southwestern province of Dhale with the domestically designed and manufactured Badr-F ballistic missile. Several Saudi mercenaries were killed and injured in the process.

Speaking at a press conference in the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Tuesday, Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the newly unveiled Badr-F ballistic missile is intended to rain shrapnel over a vast area upon explosion in mid air to ensure maximum lethality against designated target.

He noted that missile would have a range of 160 kilometers, which marks a nearly 30-kilometer increase compared to the high-precision Badr P-1 ballistic missile.

Saree went on to say that Badr-F missile would explode 20 meters above the center of the designated target and would scatter some 14,000 pieces of shrapnel in a circular area with a radius of 350 meters.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing Ansarullah movement.