AP – Suspected United States (US) airstrikes around Yemen’s rebel-held capital killed at least six people and wounded 26 overnight, the Houthis said yesterday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
Since its start nearly a month ago, the intense campaign of US airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters – related to the Israel-Hamas war – has killed over 120 people, according to casualty figures released yesterday by the Houthis’ Health Ministry.
Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed firefighters spraying water on a raging fire they described as being sparked by the airstrikes. Rubble littered a street as rescuers carried one person away from the site, which the rebels claimed was a ceramics factory in the Bani Matar neighbourhood of Sanaa, the capital.
The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorisation from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began on March 15.
The American military also hasn’t been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
The Houthis separately claimed they shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, which sits to the northwest of the country on the Red Sea.
A Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree described the downing in a prerecorded video message as the fourth in two weeks by the rebels. Saree said the rebels targeted the drone with “a locally manufactured missile”.
General Atomics Reapers, which cost around USD30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 12,100 metres and remain in the air for over 30 hours.
Central Command said it was aware of “reports” of the drone being shot down, but did not elaborate.
An AP review has found the new US operation against the Houthis under President Donald Trump appears more extensive than that under former President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.
