Yemen's Houthis shoot down MQ-9 Reaper drone

Sanaa, May 30 (IANS) Houthi group has said it shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen’s central Marib.

Yahya Sarea, the group’s military spokesman, said on Wednesday in the statement broadcast by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV that “a locally made surface-to-air missile is used in the operation, and this is the sixth MQ-9 Reaper drone we shot down in six months”.

He added that “we will continue to develop our military defence capabilities to counter the US-British coalition aggression against our country”.

“We will also continue to support the Palestine people against the Israeli aggression until the conflict and blockade stop,” the spokesman stressed as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The Houthi television said it would broadcast a video showing the operation of shooting down this drone. It has broadcasted videos of all previous operations, showing the debris of the drones.

Meanwhile, the US media outlets cited an anonymous Defence official as saying that “the US Air Force has not lost any aircraft operating within US Central Command’s area of responsibility” without providing further details.

Last November, the Houthis began to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israeli-linked ships transiting the Red Sea to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In response, the US-British naval coalition stationed in the waters has since January conducted regular air raids and missile strikes against Houthi targets to deter the group but led to an expansion of Houthi attacks to include US and British commercial vessels and naval ships.

–IANS

int/khz