This file picture provided by the media bureau of Yemen�s Operations Command Center shows a Yemeni man searching the wreckage of a Saudi-led CH-4 reconnaissance drone after it was shot down by Yemeni air defense forces and their allies in the skies over Yemen�s northern province of al-Jawf. (Photo via Twitter)

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 as it was flying in the skies over Yemen�s northwestern province of ‘Amran.

The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said in a post published on his Twitter page that Yemeni air defense forces shot down the Chinese-made CH-4 combat drone with a surface-to-air missile as it was carrying out hostilities over al-‘Amshiyah area of the Harf Sufyan district in the early hours of Wednesday.

The CH-4 drone has a 3,500- to 5,000-kilometer range and a 30- to 40-hour endurance. It is also capable of carrying six missiles and a payload of up to 250 to 345 kilogram.

The unmanned aerial vehicle can fire air-to-ground missile from altitude of 5,000 meters, therefore it can stay outside of effective range of most anti-aircraft guns.

Back on November 13, Saree said on Twitter that Yemeni air defense units had used a suitable domestically-developed surface-to-air missile to shoot down a US-built Boeing Insitu ScanEagle spy drone belonging to the invading alliance as it was carrying out hostile acts over the al-Jubah district in Yemen�s oil-producing province of Ma�rib.

On November 9, Yemeni army forces and their allies shot down a Saudi ScanEagle reconnaissance drone as the aircraft was flying over the same district of Ma�rib province.

‘Saudi-led military campaign has come to a dead end�

Separately, a high-ranking official from the administration of Yemen�s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, says the atrocious Saudi-led military campaign to crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement had come to a dead end, and the Riyadh regime and its allies were about to call it off and declare it a failure.

It is no longer a secret to anyone what has happened in the aftermath of the Houthi revolt, and the point to which the attempt to restore power in Yemen has come. Things are clearer now. The military campaign has reached a dead end and it is expected to be declared a failure, former Yemeni prime minister and current Speaker of Shura Council, Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher, wrote in a series of posts published on his Twitter page on Tuesday.

He added, We have in front of us a torn homeland, which is bleeding. A homeland destroyed by war and almost disintegrated into states and societies.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and other key Western powers, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi�s government back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

Having failed to reach its professed goals, the war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen�s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

Despite heavily-armed Saudi Arabia�s continuous bombardment of the impoverished country, Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Committees have grown steadily in strength against the Saudi invaders and left Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.

Last week, international weekly magazine The Economist wrote in a report that Saudi Arabia was growing desperate to end its disastrous war on its southern neighbor.

The report said while the Yemen conflict has become a quagmire for the Riyadh regime, and cost the kingdom untold billions and damaged its relations with key partners, the Yemeni forces think they are winning the conflict.

The Saudis, by contrast, are growing desperate to end the war, if only for self-interested reasons. A conflict sold to the public in 2015 as a quick romp has instead become a quagmire, one that has cost the kingdom untold billions and damaged relations with key partners, particularly America. It has also invited frequent drone and missile attacks by the Houthis. The coalition says it intercepts 90% of attacks (a figure that is hard to verify). Still, a few have hit airports and other vital infrastructure, the publication said.

The Saudis are eager to cut their losses, but they cannot find a way to do so, it added.