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An F-15 fighter jet of the Royal Saudi Air Force. / AP, Yonhap

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed on the 16th local time that they shot down a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 fighter jet over Marib province in northeastern Yemen.

Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Houthi movement, issued a statement on the group's Al Masirah TV saying the Saudi warplane was hit by an indigenous surface-to-air missile while carrying out hostile operations in support of Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

Spokesperson Saree added that Houthi forces subsequently fired domestically produced air defense missiles to repel two Saudi formations of F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets that entered Marib airspace to search for the downed plane's wreckage.

Saudi Arabia has not immediately issued an official statement regarding the Houthi claim, and the reported downing of the aircraft has not been independently verified by foreign media.

Saree also claimed that Saudi F-15 and Typhoon aircraft conducted more than 450 airstrikes across seven Yemeni provinces over the past week, causing civilian casualties, though he did not provide a specific casualty count.

He stressed that the Houthis "will continue to mobilize all available means against what we consider violations of Yemen's airspace and sovereignty."

                                                                                                            Park Jin-sook