Houthi rebels announced Monday that they shot down another United States MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was operating over Saada Province in Yemen.
Footage of the incident released by the Tehran-backed militia purportedly shows the wreckage of the $30 million surveillance craft with what appears to be components from a 500-pound MK-82 bomb.
A U.S. military official told The Associated Press the Pentagon has received reports of a missing unmanned aerial vehicle, before conceding, “we have nothing additional to provide.”
The apparent loss of the airframe occurs as Washington acknowledged the destruction of two MQ-9s by groundfire from the Houthis in September, which adds to other successful interceptions of the platform by the militants in 2017, 2019, and 2023.
On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force conducted an attack on Houthi infrastructure at the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa, in response to recent ballistic missile incursions into the Jewish state launched by the terror group.
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