- U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday evening that the U.S. military had destroyed five unmanned one-way attack drones from Yemen
- News of the destroyed Houthi drones comes after the rebels last week released images of a $30 million US drone they shot down over Yemen.
- “These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters increasingly safe,” CentCom said
On Tuesday evening, the US Central Command announced that the US military had shot down five unmanned Houthi attack drones sent from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen.
The unmanned aerial vehicles for a one-way attack were shot down by a warship and aircraft over the Red Sea, where tensions between the Iran-backed Houthis and the US military presence continue to simmer.
Central Command wrote that U.S. forces determined the drones “posed an immediate threat to merchant vessels and to U.S. Navy and coalition vessels in the region.”
“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters increasingly safer for the U.S. Navy and merchant ships,” the message concluded.
The USS Gravely Destroyer – a ship used by the military to shoot down enemy missiles
News of the destroyed Houthi drones comes after the rebels last week released images of what they said was a $30 million US drone they shot down over Yemen.
The news from the region comes after Houthi rebels last week released images of what they claimed was a $30 million US drone they shot down over Yemen.
The drone was the second one they have destroyed in several months.
Last week, the Houthis published video of a surface-to-air missile downing a US MQ-9 Reaper drone off the coast of Hodeida, a Yemeni port city occupied by the militant group on the Red Sea.
The footage included a video of men dragging pieces of debris from the water to a beach.
Images of the debris, including areas with text in English and what appeared to be electrical equipment, appeared to match known pieces of the Reaper drone, which is usually used in attack missions and surveillance flights.
The Pentagon later confirmed that the Iranian-backed terror regime shot down the $30 million US plane.
Last November, the Pentagon also acknowledged the loss of an MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down by the rebels over the Red Sea.
Since the Houthis seized Yemen’s northern territory and the capital Sanaa in 2014, the US military has lost at least four drones to attacks by the rebel group. Drones were lost in 2017, 2019, 2023 and now, this year.
In addition to the drone loss, the Houthis claimed an attack on the Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged US bulk carrier full of grain bound for Aden, Yemen, with grain from Argentina.
A US fighter jet is catapulted from the cockpit of a US aircraft carrier into the southern Red Sea
Last week, the Houthis also acknowledged the targeted attack by the Belize-flagged bulk carrier ship Rubymar with two ballistic missiles. One hit the ship.
The US and Britain have launched joint airstrikes against the rebels in recent weeks to halt attacks on commercial ships carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen.
Due to the ongoing threat in the Red Sea, the price of global shipping containers has increased by more than 300 percent since November last year.
The geopolitical chaos therefore directly contributes to the rising costs of goods in Western countries.