A US military MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was shot down in western Yemen Sunday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway told CNN Monday.
“This incident is under investigation,” he added.
Yemen is currently beset by a civil war between the Houthi rebels, who control vast swaths of the country’s north, including the capital, and the internationally recognized government which is backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday the Houthi-controlled Defense Ministry announced that it had downed an American made surveillance drone in the outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
The US military is conducting two primary missions in Yemen, non-combat support to the Saudi-led coalition and a counterterrorism mission that targets al Qaeda in Yemen.
The US provides “non-combat advisory and coordinating” support to the Saudi-led coalition and the Department of Defense “provides refueling support to Coalition aircraft and intelligence support to assist Saudi Arabia in preventing cross-border attacks,” Rankine-Galloway said.
US forces also conduct counterterrorism operations in Yemen targeting the local affiliate of al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.
Since January 2017, the US military has conducted over 100 strikes in Yemen against AQAP targets according to the Pentagon.
“Additionally, US special operations forces have carried out raids against AQAP high-value individuals and locations,” Rankine-Galloway added.
The Pentagon would not say which of the two missions the US drone that was shot down was supporting citing operational security concerns.
