Houthis tried to recover U.S. drone they shot down, Pentagon says

Reuters
·1 min read

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthis attempted to recover a U.S. drone they had shot down and that landed in the Red Sea, but it is unlikely they will recover anything of significance, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and U.S. officials said a U.S. MQ-9 drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen.

"We know that there was an attempt by Houthis to try and recover them MQ-9 but it is unlikely that they will be able to retrieve anything of significance," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh added that the United States was not currently looking to recover the downed drone.

While U.S. drones have been shot down by Houthis in the past, this incident comes at a particularly tense time in the region.

Washington is on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups as regional tensions soar during the Israel-Hamas war.

In 2019, U.S. drones were brought down on two separate occasions by the group in Yemen.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Daniel Wallis)