US Reaper drone shot down by Houthi rebels in Yemen as tensions rise in the region
The US yesterday confirmed that an MQ-9 Reaper drone, worth about $30 million, was brought down by Houthi militants in Yemen, the second time the Iran-backed rebels have hit one since November.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said the drone was shot down on Monday off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas near the Red Sea.
“Initial indications are that it was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile,” she said. In November, the Pentagon said that an MQ-9 was shot down by the Houthis over the Red Sea.
As part of their pressure campaign over the war in Gaza, the Houthis have been striking commercial vessels in the Red Sea that they claim are linked to Israel.
Three joint US-UK strikes in Yemen and at least 32 American “self-defence” strikes have failed to deter the Houthis from continuing the attacks.
On Monday, the crew of a Belize-flagged, British-registered cargo vessel, Rubymar, abandoned their ship after it was struck near Bab Al Mandeb and started to leak oil. US President Joe Biden last month acknowledged the strikes were not having a deterrent effect, but the Pentagon insists the rebels’ military stocks is suffering.
“Without getting into intelligence, I think it’s fair to say that the Houthis do have a large warehouse of capabilities,” Ms Singh said.
“Every single time that we conduct a strike, whether it be with our coalition partners, or whether it be unilateral, we do degrade their abilities and their capabilities.”
The US says its new Gulf operations are set up to protect international commerce through the waterway.
Yesterday, the US military reported several Houthi attacks and self-defence strikes in the past two days.
The US-owned and Greekflagged ship Sea Champion was struck by two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the Gulf of Aden but completed its journey to deliver grain. The Marshall Islands-flagged and US-owned Navis Fortuna was also hit by an attack drone but continued to travel to Italy.
The US military said that it had shot down a drone in western Yemen that was “prepared to launch at ships in the Red Sea”.