Yemen’s Houthis down US drone, attack Israeli site as tensions escalate

ANKARA

Yemen’s Houthi group said Wednesday that they shot down a US drone and attacked Israeli and American targets.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree said a US MQ-9 drone was intercepted “while carrying out hostile missions” over Al-Jawf province in northeastern Yemen.

He said the drone was brought down by “a domestically made surface-to-air missile.”

Saree said the drone was the third to have been downed in 10 days and the 18th since the group launched military operations in support of Gaza since Israel embarked on a genocidal war against the Palestinian enclave in October 2023.

He said Houthi forces also targeted an Israeli military site in Tel Aviv in central Israel with a drone, without giving details.

Drones also targeted “hostile warships” in the Red Sea, including US aircraft carrier the USS Harry S. Truman, he added.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or the US on the claims.

The Houthi spokesman said that US airstrikes continued in several areas across Yemen in the past few hours, causing civilian casualties.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said Wednesday that 13 people, including six women and four children, were killed in US airstrikes in Al-Hawak district in Al-Hudaydah province a day earlier.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel also reported US strikes targeting telecommunications networks in the provinces of Ibb and Amran in northern Yemen.

Later, Al-Masirah said "an American aggression targeted the Rujam area in Bani Hashish district of Sanaa with four airstrikes."

It added that US aircraft launched additional airstrikes on the Al-Nahdin area in al-Sabeen district of Sanaa, without clarifying the targets of the strikes.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said in a statement that the US airstrikes on the Al-Nahdin area resulted in the deaths of three civilians.

According to the Houthi-run Health Ministry’s figures, US airstrikes in Yemen have killed at least 116 civilians and injured 224 others since March 15.

Last month, US President Donald Trump said he had ordered "decisive and powerful military action" against the Houthis and later threatened to "completely annihilate them."

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed more than 50,800 people.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas but resumed them after renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza last month.