Two airmen with the United Arab Emirates Air Force were killed Monday when their Dassault Mirage jet crashed during combat operations in Yemen. The servicemembers, Zayed Ali Al Kaabi and Mohammed Obaid Al Hmoudi, were killed flying operations as part of Operation Restoring Hope, the Saudi Arabian-led operations against rebels in Yemen, according to a statement from the official WAM news agency. The jet suffered a “technical fault” and crashed at dawn, according to Agence France-Presse. Security officials said the jet crashed into a mountainside near the Yemeni capital of Aden, the site of increased operations against Iran-backed rebels. This is at least the fourth jet to crash as part of the operations, which began in March 2015. A USAF crew last year rescued the two-man crew of a Saudi F-15S that crashed in the Red Sea. In December, an F-16 from Bahrain crashed inside Saudi Arabia, and in May a Moroccan F-16 crashed in Yemen, killing the pilot. USAF is regularly flying refueling operations in support of the coalition and has an air liaison team in Riyadh.
Multiple U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters have deployed to the strategic outpost of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to protect the myriad of assets deployed there, including strategic bombers.