Al Jazeera :
The Houthis have claimed to have shot down a United States military drone over Yemen, in the latest attack by the group, which has disrupted shipping trade through the crucial Bab al-Mandeb Strait, drawing US strikes.
The Yemeni group has carried out dozens of attacks on ships with links to Israel in a show of solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s 11-month-old war on Gaza.
Yahya Saree, the military spokesman of the Houthi group, said in a prerecorded video message released early on Sunday that the MQ-9 Reaper was shot down by air defences over Marib as “it was carrying out hostile activities”.
This is the eighth drone of this type to be shot down since the start of the war on Gaza, he said. The group has not so far released footage of the downed attack and surveillance aircraft that costs about $30m.
The advanced drones, which can fly at altitudes up to 15,240 metres (50,000 feet) and for up to 24 hours, have been flown by US military and intelligence forces over Yemen for years. That includes during years of civil war that broke out after the Houthis rebelled against the government in late 2014. The fighting has largely ended after a UN-brokered ceasefire in December 2023.
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