U.S. reports drone shot down in Yemen

CAIRO — An American military drone was shot down in a rugged patch of northern Yemen, said U.S. officials and Yemeni rebels, immediately triggering accusations of Iranian involvement in a region where tension between Washington and Tehran is growing.

On Wednesday, a military spokesman for the Iranaligned rebels, known as the Houthis, said in a tweet and on the group’s television station, al-Masirah, that an MQ9 Reaper drone was brought down late Tuesday by the rebels’ air-defense system.

Lt. Col. Earl Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement, “We are investigating reports of an attack by Iranian-backed Houthis … on a U.S. unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operating in authorized airspace over Yemen.”

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss undisclosed details of the event, said an American MQ-9 drone had been shot down.

The attack, the second such instance in three months, threatens to worsen tension in a region that has become a battleground for the United States and its Sunni Muslim allies against Shiite Iran.

On Wednesday, Brown said, “We have been clear that Iran’s provocative actions and support to militant and proxies, like the Iranian-backed Houthis, poses a serious threat to stability in the region and our partners.”

In June, the U.S. military said the Houthis had shot down a U.S. drone with Iranian assistance.

The attacks underscore the growing military capabilities of the rebels, who only a few years ago were mountain fighters with no access to armed drones or the surface-to-air missiles that they claimed were used to strike the U.S. drones.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria claimed in a tweet that the missile that downed the MQ-9 drone was “built locally and will be unveiled soon at a press conference.”

“We affirm to the powers of aggression that they need to think about the consequences of their actions,” Saria said. “Our aerial zone will no longer be violated like before.”

It was unclear what mission the U.S. military drone was undertaking, but the U.S. military has deployed drones and airstrikes in previous years to target Yemen’s al-Qaida affiliate.

The United States is backing a Saudi-led coalition of regional Sunni countries that is fighting the Shiite Houthis to help restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government and stem Iran’s regional influence. Iran has denied providing military and financial backing to the Houthis.

Tension between the United States and Iran has escalated since President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from an international pact to contain Iran’s nuclear capabilities and increased sanctions.

That has triggered backand-forth accusations between Trump and senior Iranian officials, as well as tit-for-tat attacks involving oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and in the Mediterranean Sea.

In June, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a U.S. surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz, further heightening tension.