Houthis claim they downed US MQ-9 Reaper drone in Yemen’s Marib province
Drone hit with ‘a locally made surface-to-air missile,’ says spokesperson
SANAA, Yemen
The Yemeni Houthi group claimed Wednesday to have downed a US drone in Marib province.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said his fighters downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in northern Yemen.
"The drone was downed with a locally made surface-to-air missile while carrying out hostile missions in the skies of Marib province," he said in a statement. “This drone is the sixth of its kind to be downed during the Promised Victory and the Holy Jihad in support and backing of the Palestinian people,” he added.
The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated, or headed to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli onslaught since last Oct. 7.
With the US and UK launching retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi sites inside Yemen, the Houthis declared that the group considers all American and British ships military targets.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul
