Yemen’s Houthi rebels shoot down US navy drone

NEW DELHI: Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed on Saturday that that they had shot down one other US navy MQ-9 Reaper drone, releasing footage of elements that matched recognized elements of the unmanned plane. The Houthis said that they used a surface-to-air missile to carry down the Reaper, as a part of a renewed collection of assaults this week by the rebels following a relative lull of their stress marketing campaign in the course of the Israel-Hamas conflict within the Gaza Strip.
“A US Air Drive MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen,” confirmed US Air Drive Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defence Division spokesperson, to The Related Press on Saturday. He added that an investigation was ongoing, with out offering additional particulars.
The Houthis reported that the downing occurred on Thursday over their stronghold within the nation’s Saada province. The footage they launched included what they described because the missile launch concentrating on the drone, with a person off-camera reciting the Houthi’s slogan after it was hit: “God is the best; loss of life to America; loss of life to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage additionally featured a number of close-ups of drone elements, together with the brand of Normal Atomics, the drone’s producer, and serial numbers equivalent to recognized elements made by the corporate.
Because the Houthis took management of the nation’s north and its capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the US navy has misplaced at the very least 5 drones to the insurgent. Other than Thursday’s shootdown, US has misplaced drones in 2017, 2019, 2023, and one earlier this 12 months. Reapers, which price roughly USD 30 million every, can fly at altitudes as much as 50,000 ft and have an endurance of as much as 24 hours earlier than needing to land.
In the meantime, since November, the Houthis have launched greater than 50 assaults on transport, seized one vessel, and sunk one other, in keeping with the US Maritime Administration. Houthi assaults have decreased in latest weeks because the rebels have been focused by a US-led airstrike marketing campaign in Yemen. Delivery by means of the Pink Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the risk. American officers have speculated that the rebels could also be working out of weapons because of the US-led marketing campaign in opposition to them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in latest months. Nonetheless, the rebels have renewed their assaults within the final week.