Another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone went down in Yemen, with images and videos online purportedly showing the incident on Wednesday.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have continued their attacks on shipping around the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The cause of the drone’s downing remains unclear.
However, U.S. Central Command acknowledged seeing “reports” of the aircraft being downed in Yemen’s central Marib province. This incident potentially marks the third such downing this month.
Images and videos analyzed by The Associated Press showed the MQ-9 drone lying on its belly in the desert, with its tail assembly detached. One hatch appeared to have been opened after the landing, but the drone remained largely intact with no visible blast damage.
One of the images included Wednesday’s date, and the drone lacked any markings. Notably, videos showed Yemeni rebels standing on the downed drone, with men in its upper deck raising Islamic slogans.
Authorities in Marib, controlled by allies of Yemen’s exiled government, did not acknowledge the drone incident.
The Houthis, who have previously shot down MQ-9 drones, also did not comment. A U.S. defense official, speaking anonymously, stated that “the U.S. Air Force has not lost any aircraft operating within U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.”
Other American paramilitary forces have operated drones in Yemen. Marib, located 75 miles east of Sanaa on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter Desert, has seen previous drone downings due to its strategic importance in Yemen’s ongoing war.
Since the civil war began in 2014, with the Houthis seizing most of northern Yemen and its capital, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels.
This month alone, two other suspected shootdowns of Reapers have occurred, though the American military has not confirmed these incidents.