Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen have reportedly acquired sophisticated Russian-made surface-to-air missiles and have used them to shoot down a fighter jet this month.

In an exclusive report (March 26) The Independent claims Al Qaeda used an SA-7 surface-to-air missile to down a French-made Mirage fighter jet in Yemen. The missile was allegedly a “Strela” shoulder-mounted heat-seeking projectile with a kill range altitude of 15 to 1,500 meters.

According to the report, the incident took place two weeks ago (March 14), just outside th southern Yemeni port city of Aden.

The jet crashed into a mountainside; officials at the time told media the crash was due to a “technical malfunction” but sources told The Independent the jet was shot down by Al Qaeda using a surface-to-air missile (SAM).

The fighter jet was flying in the United Arab Emirates air force as part of a Saudi-led coalition air campaign against the Shi’ite Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran. Both pilots were killed in the crash. Locals told media the jet was flying low and attacking AQAP forces entrenched in a district west of Aden.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is deeply involved in this conflict, as is the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, whose guerrilla fighters have been spotted among the Houthis.

If the report is true, this will mark the first time a SAM was used in the Yemen conflict – but not the first time Al Qaeda has ever used one.

In fact, Al Qaeda produced a detailed guide to help its operatives learn how to use a SAM to bring down commercial aircraft. One such guide was found in Mali as far back as three years ago, according to a 2013 report by The Associated Press.

The 26-page document, written in Arabic, was recovered by AP in a building that had been occupied by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghred (AQIM). This manual also was used for SA-7s, also called “man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS.

In that instance, the SA-7s in question were believed to have originated from the arsenal of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

Not only were they found in Timbuktu, however. Atlantic Council analyst Peter Pham, a former adviser to U.S. military command in Africa and instructor to U.S. Special Forces told AP at the time he believed Al Qaeda had fighters who already knew how to use the SAMs effectively.

Moreover, the Libya-based Al Qaeda group was not the first to have MANPADS. It was also believed there were Al Qaeda groups in Iraq and Afghanistan who also had MANPADS, as well as a Somalian terror cell who boasted at the time about its SA-7 in a video message.

This Saturday, a second source told The Independent, “Al Qaeda has confiscated huge amounts of weapons from bases in Yemen.” The SA-7s in this case are believed to have been sold to Al Qaeda, or to Yemen by Bulgarian arms dealers who acquired them when the Soviet Union broke apart.

The source added, “Al Qaeda are smarter than Islamic State (ISIS); They speak with the tribal elders, they co-opt people, get them on their side. Islamic State uses fear and coercion. It’s flashy and seeks a lot of attention but Al Qaeda is laying low and playing the long game.”

The source claimed that fighters from both sides of the conflict in Yemen are selling arms to AQAP.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson has flatly denied reports from Tehran that a delivery of the S-300 anti-missile defense system is due to arrive from Moscow this week.

The spokesperson told the TASS news agency that Iranian claims the first batch would arrive Thursday are “out of the question.” He said on Wednesday, “The beginning of deliveries of the first consignment of Favorit missile systems cannot take place since the Iranian side has not paid the price written in the contract as of Feb. 16.”

Last week, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehgan told international media the first shipment of the S-300 systems would arrive within the next two months.

The S-300 is a long-range surface-to-air missile designed to intercept aircraft and cruise missiles. The most advanced versions of the system can also target ballistic missiles.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hossein Jaberi Ansari claimed earlier in the week that a shipment of the system is already on its way to Tehran.

A Russian presidential aide for military-technical cooperation told TASS in December 2015, “The contract is in action.” But it was the Iranian ambassador to Russia, Mehdi Sanai, who claimed in November 2015 that Iran was already receiving the first S-300 systems.

These claims and denials have been going back and forth for months, but at the end of the day, Iran has yet to receive the system and it is not at all clear whether Tehran has paid for it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the S-300 system poses no threat to Israel. He was quoted in an article published in the April 2015 edition of Russia Today as saying the system “will not put at risk the security of any state in the region, including Israel.”

A new long-range SAM (surface-to-air missile) was test fired this week in the seas along the western coast of India, according to Israel’s Ministry of Defense.

“The Indian Navy today achieved a significant milestone in enhancing its anti-air warfare capability with the maiden firing of its newly-developed LR SAM,” the ministry said Wednesday (Dec. 30) in an official release. “The firing was undertaken on the Western Seaboard by INS Kolkata, wherein the missile successfully intercepted an aerial target at extended ranges.”

The “Barak 8” is being jointly produced by India’s defense research agency, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the Indian Navy, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The missile has a range of 70 kilometers and is capable of protecting navy vessels from multiple targets, including enemy aircraft, missiles and rockets. It has already been through one test aboard an Israeli Navy ship last year.

Once launched, the missile continues to receive its data from a radar system that predicts the trajectory of the threat and enables the missile to adjust its own path to meet and destroy the target. It can also detect multiple targets simultaneously, according to a senior Indian Navy official who spoke with Defense News.

It is expected the missile will be tested at least three more times before it will be fitted on board the Kolkata class destroyers, most likely within the next two years. According to Israel’s defense ministry, the missiles are also to be fitted on all future major Indian Navy warships.

“This missile, along with a multifunction active electronically scanned array naval radar (MF STAR) would provide these ships the capability to neutralize aerial threats at extended ranges. With the successful proving of these systems, the Indian Navy has become part of a select group of Navies that have this niche capability, which would provide a fillip to our Maritime Operations,” Israel’s defense ministry said.

The Barak-8 is to be produced by India state-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd. India expects to initially fit 32 of the missiles on one of three Kolkata destroyers.

The project, commissioned in 2006, has reached a cost of more than $1.5 billion. There is no definite date for induction of the missile, although its initial target date was 2012, and there has been no explanation for the delay.

Two news agencies in Lebanon and Syria claimed Wednesday evening that an Israeli drone was downed, possibly by a SAM anti-missile that was fired from Syria. The official Lebanese National News Agency reported, “The tail of a surface-to-air missile (SAM) fired from Syria fell in the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Deir al-Ashayer,” near the border between Syria and Lebanon and approximately 15 west of Damascus.

Last month, Israel is assumed to have been behind the aerial bombing in the same area of a truck convoy carrying advanced Soviet-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles intended for Hizbullah.

Israel has not commented on the reports of a downed drone but has stated several times it conducts surveillance flights over Lebanon to monitor terrorist activity and the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hizbullah in Lebanon.