DOHA, April 14. /TASS/. Yemen's Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah has destroyed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen, the group's spokesman Yahya Saria said.

"Our air defense forces have managed to shoot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone which was carrying out a hostile mission over the Hajjah governorate," he told the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television channel.

The spokesman noted that the drone was shot down by a locally-made surface-to-air missile. He said it was the fourth such drone destroyed by the rebels in Yemeni airspace in two weeks, and the nineteenth since the conflict in the Gaza Strip escalated.

With the conflict in the Gaza Strip escalating, tthe Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement announced that it would carry out attacks on Israeli territory and block pro-Israeli ships from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv halted its military operation in the Palestinian enclave. The Houthi attacks stopped after the Gaza ceasefire was imposed in mid-January 2025, but after the ceasefire collapsed in early March, the rebels first announced a resumption of attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea and then resumed attempts to attack targets inside Israel with missiles.

On March 15, the US, under orders from President Donald Trumpov, began launching massive strikes against targets of the Houthis, who control about a third of Yemen's territory. According to the US Central Command, the operation is aimed at protecting American interests and ensuring freedom of navigation. In response, Ansar Allah launched a series of missile and drone attacks on the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier in the northern Red Sea. There was no information on damage to the ship as a result of the attacks.