US lost seven multi-million-dollar drones in Yemen area since Mid-March
The United States has lost seven multi-million-dollar MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Yemen area since March 15, a US official said Monday, as the Navy announced a costly warplane fell off an aircraft carrier into the Red Sea.
Washington launched the latest round of its air campaign against Yemen's Houthi militia in mid-March, and MQ-9s can be used for both reconnaissance — a key aspect of US efforts to identify and target weaponry the militia is using to attack shipping in the region — as well as strikes.
'There have been seven MQ-9s that have gone down since March 15,' the US official said on condition of anonymity, without specifying what caused the loss of the drones, which cost around $30 million apiece.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app here.
The US Navy meanwhile announced the loss of another piece of expensive military equipment: an F/A-18E warplane that fell off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in an accident that injured one sailor.
A tractor that was towing the F/A-18E — a type of aircraft that cost more than $67 million in 2021 — also slipped off the ship into the sea.
'The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,' the Navy said in a statement.
The carrier and its other planes remain in action and the incident is under investigation, the Navy added. No details of recovery work were released.
It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in less than six months, after another was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser late last year in an incident that both pilots survived.
The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been striking the Houthi armed group on a near-daily basis.
The military's Central Command said Sunday that US forces have struck more than 800 targets and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters, including members of the group's leadership, as part of the operation.
Houthi-controlled media in Yemen said Monday that US strikes hit a migrant detention center in the group's stronghold of the capital Saada, killing at least 68 people.
Then early Tuesday, rebel channel al-Masirah reported two strikes on Bani Hashish, northeast of the capital, citing the local governorate.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia began targeting shipping in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel's military after a shock Hamas attack in October of that year.
Houthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal — a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of the world's shipping traffic.
The United States first began conducting strikes against the Houthi militia under the Biden administration, and President Donald Trump has vowed that military action against the group will continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saba Yemen
6 days ago
- Saba Yemen
Revolution Leader to Deliver Lecture Continuing Quranic Stories Series
Sana'a - SABA: Anticipate a lecture by the Revolution Leader, Sayyed Abdulmalik Badreddin al-Houthi, continuing the series on Quranic Stories, beginning today. Facebook Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (Revolution Leader)
Saba Yemen
27-05-2025
- Saba Yemen
Al-Sukhnah summer school students tour martyr leader exhibition in Hodeida
Hodeida - Saba: Students from the Model Summer Schools in al-Sukhnah district of Hodeida governorate on Tuesday visited the Martyr Leader Exhibition in Hodeida City as part of their cultural and educational activities. During their visit, the students viewed the exhibits detailing the life of Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, his key intellectual and "jihadi" achievements, and his sacrifices for what is described as the nation's dignity and resistance against "hegemony and arrogance." Organizers of the visit highlighted its importance in instilling pride and steadfastness in the youth and connecting them to the values for which the martyrs sacrificed. They commended the students' engagement with the exhibition's content. The students expressed their pride in visiting the exhibition and affirmed their commitment to following the martyrs' path and learning from their sacrifices in defending the homeland's freedom and independence. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Yemenat
22-05-2025
- Yemenat
The Roar of the Wounded
I am filled with rejection and rebellion as long as I live. I exist and remain alive, still resisting. We will remain in this vast abyss, searching for a homeland. We will not tire or grow weary, nor will despair or despondency reach us. We will continue to nurture hope in kind souls. And even if the hyenas of despair surround us, striving to seize us, we are 'stronger than death,' more capable of enduring and persevering. We possess a will forged by time. We are resilient against breaking, never losing hope, while remaining mindful of reason and wisdom. They called me sick, and mad! Some said I am a traitor and a collaborator! Others labeled me Houthi and a sympathizer, while those who uttered such words long for the taste of milk. To These I Say: I am the king of my own self, wherever I go; I refuse to be a slave to anyone, not even to my own self. I am not a sheep in a flock, nor a mount for the masses. I am free, the son of freedom, and in my faith and commitment, there is no master and servant. I will not be a slave sold in the market of slavery. I will not be a servant, even if a thousand prophets call for bondage, and a thousand verses urge for slavery. When oppression demands my silence, I declare, 'Silence is shame.' And when the night asks me, 'Who are we?' I respond, 'We are lovers of the day.' And when absence seeks to make me disappear from sight, I become even more present. When the legions of deep sleep invade me, the bells of conscience awaken me, and my spirit rises against my silence and slumber. Silence is death. I cannot die quietly, without a sound; I cannot die stifled and choked by conscience. I refuse to be consumed by injustice, no matter how enticing it may be with abundance or treasures. The thrill of challenge prowls within me like a lion in its cage. I resist death in the prison of silence, barred by iron. I reject muffled sounds, even if they are glass drinking in the glimmers of the sun. I refuse the strangling reins of the prancing horses; I embrace them above the clouds, along with the bridle of wildness and the shackles of human enslavement, even if they were crafted from crystal and diamonds, or pulsing like stars in the vast sky, or shimmering like chandeliers and artifacts in the palaces of the wealthy. And even if I am compelled to silence for a moment, the vastness within me is filled with noise and clamor. If I slip into myself in a moment of weakness, my conscience does not rest from a fierce battle raging deep within me, until its victory echoes throughout the corners of the horizon, reaching the thunderous heights of the sky. In the oppressive darkness, my conscience was my star, and in the depths of the ocean, it was my compass. My conscience comes first, before the self, before everyone, even if I am among them. My conscience finds cowardly silence intolerable in the face of overwhelming tyranny—a world teeming with bitterness and pain, where savagery penetrates me each day. I began as a rebel and have lived, and still do, in that spirit, while my years wither towards their end. Perhaps reality dictates patience, bending to the storm until it passes. Perhaps I will calm for a brief moment, or seize a respite from this long struggle, only to return and continue what I have started. I will not surrender to a tyrant who wishes to tame me like a sheep, nor to an oppressor who rides me like a docile beast. I continue to resist with awareness, teeth clenched, and hands ready. * * * Raise your voice into the open air, for silence is inhabited by graves. Silence is death. Do not submit to a tyrant or an oppressor. And if fate has decreed that you traverse the prison enclosed by iron, let your roar echo across the horizon, and declare that you are free, the son of freedom. Awaken the people with a roar that cannot be denied. Unleash your resounding and formidable voice. Assert your existence and your protest, and let the world know that you are still alive, that you have not died. You remain a revolutionary, resisting. Drink water, pure or flavored as you wish. Love life, seasoned with the taste of rebellion and struggle. Crown your achievements with excellence, and savor your uniqueness. Liberate the heights of awareness from the depths of darkness—from the assassination of childhood in its tender years. Rebel against the ready-made recipes of ignorance in universities, mosques, schools, and brainwashing sessions. Rebel against the grand illusion, so you do not live as a captive, subdued and humiliated. If you find the truth clear, seize it as a drowning man would grasp a lifeline. Hold on with both hands. Bite down with your teeth and your very essence. Stand tall like the sky and do not bow to a tyrant. Do not accept humiliation, even if it leads you to the thrones of Rome and Persia. Do not accept a livelihood tainted by dishonor. Resist those who seek to degrade you or erase your existence from the world.
