Moroccan fighter jet disappears ahead of Yemen cease-fire

Shiite rebels in Yemen claimed Monday to have shot down a Moroccan F-16 fighter jet taking part in a Saudi-led coalition targeting them and their allies, just a day before a five-day humanitarian cease-fire was set to begin.

 

Morocco’s military, however, only would say that the jet had gone missing around 6 p.m. (1500 GMT, 11 a.m. EDT) Sunday.

 

The purported downing of the jet fighter came as a Saudi-owned news channel, al-Hadath, aired live footage of tanks and armored personnel carriers loaded onto giant trucks, saying they were part of a “strike force” deploying to the kingdom’s border with Yemen. There have been no signs to suggest that a ground offensive was imminent, although the coalition has not ruled one out.

 

Photos purporting to show the wreckage of the Moroccan aircraft on social media networks had armed tribesmen and children posing next to wreckage that bore the North African kingdom’s national colors of red and green. A corpse also was seen.

 

A video clip also posted on social media purported to show a reporter from the rebels’ mouthpiece television station al-Maseera visiting the site of the crash in the northern Saada province and tribesmen posing with parts of plane’s fuselage or triumphantly punching the air with their fisted hands. “This plane was downed by God,” shouted one tribesman.

 

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