The Houthis have shot down an American drone off the coast of Yemen, said a source within the United States Department of Defense, confirming the announcement made earlier by this rebel movement close to Iran.
The Houthis, who claimed attacks against Israel in the midst of the war against Hamas in Gaza, claimed to have targeted the American apparatus carrying out, according to them, “espionage” activities.
“A US MQ-9 remotely piloted military aircraft was shot down off the coast of Yemen by the Houthis,” a senior Pentagon official told AFP.
The Houthis took control of Sanaa, capital of Yemen, and large swaths of the country’s territory in 2014, in their war against the internationally recognized government.
“Our air defenses were able to shoot down an American MQ-9 aircraft while it was carrying out hostile, surveillance and espionage activities in the airspace of Yemeni territorial waters, as part of American military support” to Israel, they said. the rebels said in a statement.
The United States quickly provided military support to Israel and reinforced its forces in the region after the attack by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,400 dead according to Israeli authorities.
The Israeli army responded with incessant bombings for more than a month on Gaza, the territory controlled by Hamas, killing around 10,600 people, according to the Minister of Health of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The US Navy has intercepted several missiles fired by the Houthis since the outbreak of the Gaza war.