2 Saudi pilots killed in helicopter crash in eastern Yemen – coalition

Two Saudi pilots were killed when their helicopter came down in the eastern Yemeni province of al-Mahra on Friday, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen. It said the helicopter, which belongs to the Saudi ground forces, had crashed following technical issues, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The helicopter crashed when it was carrying out its tasks of fighting terrorism and smuggling in al-Mahra, the coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said, according to Reuters. The Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government in exile. The conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.