Houthis claim to have shot down another US Army MQ-9 Reaper drone in Yemen

The rebels claim that the device was participating in “hostile missions” over the skies of Al Bayda province

May 21. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Houthi rebels claimed this Tuesday to have shot down another US Army MQ-9 Reaper drone that was participating in a “hostile mission” in Yemen’s airspace, just days after reaching another similar device over the skies of the Asian country.

The rebels’ military operations spokesman, Yahya Sari, said that “the air defense forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces have shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft that was participating in hostile missions in the airspace of the province of Al Bayda (southwest)”.

“The device has been hit with a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile and the images of the operation will be published later,” he said, before emphasizing that the Houthis have so far shot down five drones of this type since the beginning of the ‘ Battle for the Promised Conquest and the Sacred Jihad,'” according to a statement published on his account on the social network X.

Sari has thus made reference to the operations launched by the rebels against Israeli territory and against ships with some type of Israeli connection as a result of the Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

“The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to develop their defensive capabilities to confront US-British aggression against our country and continue to carry out military operations in support of the oppressed Palestinian people until the siege is removed and the aggression against the Palestinians in Yemen ends. the Gaza Strip,” he stressed.

The US military has not yet commented on these claims by the Houthis, who have controlled the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and other areas of the north and west of the country since 2015. The rebels have also launched attacks against ships and other assets. American and British strategic actions in response to the bombings of these countries against Yemen, in an intervention that Washington and London base on their desire to guarantee the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.