The Yemeni army shot down what appears to be a Houthi drone near the Safer oil fields in Marib Governorate, employees at the oil company and eyewitnesses told Almasdar Online.

Activists posted photos of the drone on social media and a video of a military vehicle transporting it from the crash site. Based on that footage, the aircraft appears to be a Houthi-assembled Qasef drone, which is a replica of the Iranian-made Ababil-T drone, according to a UN experts panel.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes were seen circulating in the area around the time the drone crashed, the sources said. 

In recent weeks, Saudi coaltion-backed Yemeni soldiers claim to have captured Houthi drones in the governorates of Dhamar, Al-Dhale and Abyan, while Houthi forces claim to have shot down numerous coaltion drones along the Saudi border during the same period.

This is the first time that a drone has reached the Safer oil field in easter Marib. However, the area has been targeted by several missiles in the past, most of which have landed in the desert, with one exception in September 2015, which killed more than 60 soldiers including 45 Emiratis and injured many others.