NEW YORK, September 8. /TASS/. The US cannot confirm reports of the Yemeni Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebel movement’s air defense forces downing a US MQ-9 Reaper scout-attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a US defense official told TASS.

"We are aware of this reporting and currently have received no reports of any DOD assets being downed or damaged," he said.

The movement’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said earlier that a US MQ-9 drone had been downed when it was carrying out hostile actions over the airspace of the Marib province. This is the eighth drone of the US air forces of this type downed by the rebels over the airspace of Yemen since the start of escalation, he added.

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against the Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave.

In response, the US and its allies launched Operation Prosperity Guardian aiming to ensure both the freedom of navigation and the safety of maritime traffic in the Red Sea. Subsequently, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom began to deliver joint strikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, using aircraft, warships and submarines, targeting Houthi missile sites, drones and radiolocation systems.