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according to xinhua news agency, on the night of september 7 local time, the yemeni houthi armed forces said that the organization was in marib province in northeastern yemen.another us mq-9 reaper drone was shot down.

a video released by the houthis showed a man standing on a crashed us mq-9 drone, which the houthis claimed to have shot down.

yemeni houthi armed spokesman yahya sarea said in a statement on masirah tv controlled by the organization that the shooting down of the drone was a "response to the us and uk aggression against yemen." sarea revealed that the us drone was "undergoing hostile actions" when it was shot down, but he did not disclose the time of the shooting down of the drone, only saying that this was the eighth time the houthi armed forces had shot down a drone of this type since october last year.

in response, a us pentagon official said, "we have seen this information," but the us side could not confirm the report.

it is reported that the mq-9, also known as the "reaper" and nicknamed the "grim reaper", is an enlarged version of the us military's mq-1 "predator" drone. it is a long-flight, medium- and high-altitude large-scale "reconnaissance and strike" drone developed by general atomics of the united states. it can perform reconnaissance and surveillance missions, and can also carry missiles to attack ground targets.

as of 2020, the cost of one of these drones is as high as us$32 million (approximately rmb 220 million).the mq-9 can fly at an altitude of up to 50,000 feet (about 15,240 meters) and has an unarmed flight time of 42 hours.

since the outbreak of the russia-ukraine conflict, the united states has been using mq-9 drones to conduct patrol and surveillance activities over the black sea.

after the new round of israeli-palestinian conflict broke out in october last year, the houthi armed forces used drones and missiles to attack targets in the red sea and the gulf of aden, demanding that israel stop its military operations in the gaza strip. since january 12 this year, the united states and the united kingdom have launched air strikes on houthi armed targets many times, causing casualties. some countries condemned the actions of the united states and britain, believing that this was an infringement on yemen's sovereignty and would exacerbate regional tensions.

source: xinhua news agency, huanqiu.com