This file photo shows the debris of a US MQ-9 drone shot down in Yemen.
Yemeni forces have shot down another advanced American MQ-9 drone engaged in "hostile missions" in the country's airspace, the military says.
“With the help of Allah Almighty, our air defenses 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,” it said Wednesday.
“This is the third drone our air defenses have successfully shot down in ten days, and the eighteenth during the battle of Promised Victory and Holy Jihad in support of Gaza,” it added.
The average unit cost of an MQ-9 is estimated at $33 million, which means the American loss from the downing of the drones in Yemen is already about $600 million.
On Saturday, the New York Times said the US military has used $200 million in munitions since it restarted its campaign against Yemen over two weeks ago – the success of which has been “limited”.
According to the leading newspaper, the total cost of the campaign could likely surge past $1 billion by next week.
The downing, the statement said, is a response to the ongoing American aggression against Yemen and its horrific massacres against Yemeni people just hours after the US launched a number of deadly aerial attacks on various areas.
In the late hours of Tuesday, the United States carried out 22 fresh deadly airstrikes across several provinces around Yemen shortly after targeting the country, including the capital Sana’a, to dozens of similar aerial attacks.
The western province of al-Hudaydah was badly hit as eight civilians, including two children and a woman, were confirmed dead. At least 16 others were also injured, many of them critically.
American naval assets have come under intense Yemeni reprisal both in response to Washington’s military adventurism and its complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The Yemeni Armed Forces has said it will not stop attacks until Israel’s ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
Yemeni forces have launched retaliatory strikes in support of Palestinians since Israel launched a relentless war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October 2023.
The US and its Western allies have escalated their aggression against Yemen after the country resumed its anti-Israel operations over the regime’s resumption of the campaign of genocide in Gaza last month, with Yemeni outlets saying the American assaults have been hitting purely civilian targets, claiming the lives of dozens of non-combatants.
The statement affirmed the continued support of Yemeni forces for Gaza, saying they will keep on carrying out their missions to confront any aggression against the country.
“They are fully prepared to deal responsibly with any attempt to undermine our sovereignty, security, and stability, and our operations will not cease until the aggression against Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted.”
