Yemen's Ansarallah downs US MQ-9 drone in Dhamar
Shafaq News/ Yemen's Houthi movement (Ansarallah) announced on Monday that it had shot down a US-made MQ-9 drone over Dhamar province.
"Our air defenses successfully brought down a US MQ-9 drone over Dhamar airspace. The drone was carrying out hostile missions, and it was targeted with a locally made surface-to-air missile," the Houthi military spokesperson, brig. Gen. Yehya Saree said in a statement.
The spokesperson added that this marks the third drone of its kind downed by Houthi forces within a week and the tenth overall including one in Saada.
The MQ-9 drone, valued at approximately $30 million, can fly at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet and can stay airborne for up to 24 hours before needing to land.
Tensions have sharply escalated in the past week as Yemen's Houthi forces claimed to have launched a hypersonic ballistic missile that traveled approximately 2,000 kilometers from Yemen to central Israel. The missile reportedly evaded air defense systems and sparked a fire near Tel Aviv. Images circulating online showed fragments of the missile that landed on an escalator in a train station in Modiin, a town in central Israel.
The Houthi group, officially known as Ansar Allah, controls most of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. Since November, it has intensified attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandeb strait as part of what it calls a solidarity campaign with Palestinians in response to Israel's ongoing conflict in Gaza. These attacks have disrupted shipping routes, forcing vessels to take longer, costlier detours around Southern Africa.
Despite a US-led coalition bombing Houthi targets since January, the group has continued its operations. It has also launched drones and missiles from Yemen across the Red Sea, targeting Eilat, an Israeli port city in the south.
In June, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced joint military operations with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, targeting Israeli ships near Haifa. A month later, the Houthis fired a long-range drone at Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring four others.
