DUBAI (Agencies): The US military confirmed that a $30 million drone crashed near Yemen earlier this week after the Houthis claimed that they had downed at least three of them in recent days.
“We can confirm that [Monday] an MQ-9 did crash in the vicinity of Yemen. That is being investigated, but I don’t have any additional details to share,” Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told Al Arabiya English during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Houthis claimed on Monday to have shot down three MQ-9s over the last week and at least 10 since the outbreak of the Gaza war and ensuing Houthi attacks on US military assets in the region.
Asked about these claims, Ryder said he would not get into specific numbers for operational security reasons. “I can tell you that that number is not accurate. It’s too high,” he said.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas and resulting Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Yemen’s Houthis began targeting military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, which they assessed to have ties to Israel. The Iran-backed group has been firing indiscriminately and hit several ships with no links to the US or Israel. This has included a ship heading to Yemen with food and a Chinese-owned and operated oil tanker.
The US tried to prop up an international coalition to deter the Houthis but has had little success in preventing commercial ships from being hit. The European Union has a separate maritime task force for the same mission.
Courtesy: (alarabiya)
