DUBAI, January 1. /TASS/. Houthi rebels from the Yemen-based Ansar Allah movement have downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Yemeni province of Marib, the movement’s military spokesman Yahya Saria said.
"The Yemeni armed forces’ air defenses succeeded in destroying an American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, which was on a hostile mission in the Marib province’s airspace," he told the Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV channel.
According to Saria, this is the second MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle destroyed over Yemen in the past 72 hours. The spokesman said that the Houthis had downed 14 such drones since the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
Following the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Ansar Allah movement said it would strike Israeli territory and prevent ships associated with Israel from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave was halted. The Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023.
In response to the Houthis’ actions, the US authorities announced the establishment of an international coalition and the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. Afterwards, the US and the UK started to carry out regular strikes on Houthi military facilities in Yemen.