The Royal Bahraini Air Force (RBAF) has lost one of its F-16s performing a mission to support the Saudi-led air offensive in Yemen.

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) General Command reported that am RBAF‘s F-16 jet went down in Jizan province, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 30, 2015, while it was undertaking the national duty of defending the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)’s southern borders as part of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition’s “Operation Decisive Storm” and “Operation Restore Hope.”

The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and investigations are underway to determine the cause of the incident.

Noteworthy several media reports claim that the fighter has crashed due to a technical malfunction.

Nevertheless the fact that, as shown in the following amateur video, the F-16 was already in flames before hitting the ground raised some doubts about a technical failure suffered by the aircraft fueling speculations that the aircraft might have been hit by ground fire.

As we know in fact, Houthi rebels possess the capabilities to shoot down coalition aircraft, as they shown on May. 11, 2015 when they downed a Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16 which was taking part in air campaign in Yemen.

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