The Pentagon has confirmed that Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen shot down a MQ-9 Reaper drone on Monday.
“A U.S. MQ-9 was downed or went down off the coast of Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, in the Red Sea. Initial indications are that it was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in response to a question by VOA.
Earlier, a U.S. official requesting anonymity to discuss national security issues had confirmed to VOA the U.S. drone was shot down near Hudaydah in eastern Yemen. It is still unclear whether the drone was armed at the time of the downing.
Video circulating on social media allegedly shows parts of a busted drone on a beach.
This marks the second downing of an MQ-9 by the Houthis. The first was in November in international airspace.
Houthi militants launched a massive wave of attacks on Monday, hitting two ships traveling in international shipping lanes. One, a Marshal Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier, sustained minor damage from a Houthi-launched drone attack, while the Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned grain carrier M/V Sea Champion reported minor damage from an attack by two anti-ship ballistic missiles in the Gulf of Aden.
The M/V Sea Champion continued toward its scheduled destination to deliver grain to Aden, Yemen, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East.
Singh criticized the Houthis for targeting a ship meant to provide food for “starving” Yemeni civilians.
“I mean, look at exactly what you're doing. You're putting your own population at risk,” she said.
CENTCOM said it destroyed a surface-to-air missile launcher in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Monday, along with a drone in western Yemen that was prepared to launch at ships in the Red Sea.
U.S. and coalition aircraft and warships also shot down 10 drones and one anti-ship cruise missile in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden overnight.
“It is progress. And we're going to keep holding them accountable until they stop,” Singh told reporters.
But she warned that without the support of Congress to get a budget and supplemental funding passed through the U.S. House of Representatives, “things are not going to be sustainable.”
The Houthis hit the M/V Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, U.K.-owned bulk carrier, with an anti-ship ballistic missile on Sunday. The ship was transported to a nearby port by a merchant vessel and a coalition warship.
The U.S. conducted five strikes on Saturday against the Houthis, one of which took out an unmanned submarine. CENTCOM said in a statement it was “the first observed Houthi employment” of an underwater drone since attacks began in October.
The Iranian proxies have said their attacks against international shipping lanes are carried out in solidarity with Hamas.
Hamas launched an attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and captured about 240 hostages, about 100 of whom were released in November. The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry says Israel’s counteroffensive has now killed more than 29,000 Palestinians.
