Houthis claim downing US MQ-9 drone over Marib
Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, Yemen's Houthi shot down an American MQ-9 drone over Marib using a domestically produced surface-to-air missile.
In a statement, military spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, declared that the Yemeni Armed Forces’ air defenses successfully downed an American MQ-9 drone “while it was carrying out hostile missions in Marib airspace.”
“This is the second plane that our air defenses have been able to shoot down within 72 hours and the fourteenth of its type during the battle of the Promised Conquest and the Holy Jihad in support of Gaza.”
Saree further asserted that the Yemeni Armed Forces, are keen to continue their operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”
This incident follows intensified US airstrikes targeting Houthi positions in Sanaa, escalating tensions in Yemen.
On Dec 21, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) declared that its forces “conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis within Houthi-controlled territory in Sana’a, Yemen”.
A day before, Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa and the western coastal province of Al-Hudaydah in Yemen on Thursday, local media reported.
Washington has justified these strikes as efforts to weaken the Houthis, whom they accuse of threatening maritime navigation in the Red Sea and targeting Israeli sites.
