(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Yemeni air defenses have shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone for the third time within 10 days as daily US airstrikes on Yemen that began on March 15 have failed to deter the Houthis or stop their attacks.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Wednesday that Yemeni forces were “able to shoot down an American MQ-9 drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Al-Jawf Governorate, using a suitable, locally manufactured missile.”
Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin, who has sources in the Pentagon, confirmed that the drone was shot down. “This is the fourth MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down by the Houthis since March 3rd, and the fourth shot down under the Trump administration,” she wrote on X.
NEW: Another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down by the Houthis in Yemen, sources tell Fox News. This is the fourth MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down by the Houthis since March 3rd, and the fourth shot down under the Trump administration. It is the third U.S. MQ-9 drone shot down over…
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) April 9, 2025
Griffin recently reported that the US has been bombing Yemen using heavy B-2 bombers deployed to the US base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. “The US military has carried out 25 straight days of bombing, including with B-2 stealth bombers dropping bunker buster bombs, and yet the Houthis continue to fire missiles to shoot these expensive US assets down,” she said on Wednesday.
Saree said the incident marked the 18th American MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down by the Houthis since October 2023. At $30 million per MQ-9, that means $540 million worth of US drones have been lost if the Houthi number is accurate. The New York Times recently reported that the bombing campaign launched by President Trump on March 15 will soon have cost over $1 billion.
Saree also claimed more attacks on Israel and on US warships in the region and reaffirmed the Houthis would only back down if there were a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on the country.
“The armed forces, as they fight this battle with valor, defiance, and faith, reaffirm, as they have affirmed over the past years, that great Yemen is resilient and will not back down from supporting and backing the oppressed Palestinian people,” Saree said. “It will not surrender to the American aggression, and will remain, as it was, and will always be a graveyard for invaders.”
US airstrikes continued to pound Yemen on Wednesday, with attacks reported in and around the capital, Sanaa, and in the Red Sea province of Hodeidah.Yemen’s Agriculture Ministry reported US strikes on a farm in the Dhmar province, which it condemned as a “full-fledged war crime.” Four civilians were reported wounded in the attack.
On Tuesday night, US airstrikes hit a residential building in Hodeidah. The death toll in the attack has risen, with the Yemeni Health Ministry reportingthat 10 civilians, including five women and four children, were killed.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
