Houthis down American drone

Yemen rebels fire missile at US drone

The United States military has admitted that one of its American MQ-9 Reaper drones was shot down off Yemen’s coast by a Houthi-fired missile.

“On 19 February, a US MQ-9 was downed or went down off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, in the Red Sea,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.

“Initial indications are that it was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile,” Singh said.

The apparent shoot-down came the same day that the rebels targeted two US-owned merchant vessels as they continue their multi-month campaign of attacks on shipping in the area.

Meanwhile, the French defense ministry said Tuesday that the country’s navy had destroyed two drones over the Red Sea during the night, but it was not immediately clear if they were included in the US Central Command figures.

The CENTCOM also said an American destroyer shot down an anti-ship cruise missile that was “headed in its direction” early on Tuesday, while US forces destroyed a drone and a missile launcher in Yemen the day before.

On Monday, two anti-ship ballistic missiles caused minor damage to the M/V Sea Champion —a US-owned, Greek-flagged grain ship — while a drone hit the M/V Navis Fortuna, a US-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, CENTCOM said.

The Houthis had said in a statement Monday that they had targeted “two American ships in the Gulf of Aden. The first was ‘Sea Champion’ and the other was ‘Navis Fortuna.’”

The Houthis began attacking Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

US and UK forces responded with strikes against the Houthis, who have since declared American and British ships as targets.