International Desk || Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed that it shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Yemen’s Marib province, saying it used a “domestically manufactured” weapon to target the aircraft.Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a social media post on Wednesday that the Yemeni armed forces had managed to shoot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet while it was carrying out a hostile operation in support of the country’s military activities in the skies over Marib province.He claimed the fighter jet was targeted with a domestically manufactured air-to-air missile.Sarea also denied Saudi Arabia’s claim that the Houthis had carried out an attack targeting the holy city of Mecca earlier this week. Our operations target oil facilities and military bases, he said.Hours earlier, Saudi air defence forces said they had intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis from Yemen before it could enter the restricted airspace over Mecca.The latest claims come as fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has intensified again since Yemen’s civil war escalated in July.The Houthis have also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia and targeted Saudi-linked vessels in the Red Sea. The claims by the Houthis about the Saudi fighter jet could not be independently verified.