SANA’A (Dispatches) -- Yemen’s Ansarullah movements said its forces shot down a U.S. MQ-9 reconnaissance drone near the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah. 
The resistance group and its allies in the Yemeni army have increasingly targeted hostile foreign military activity in the region.
An American military official confirmed that the U.S. Air Force lost contact with an unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was operating over the Red Sea this week.
The MQ-9 was conducting operations in support of Operation Poseidon Archer, which refers to U.S. military aggression targeting Yemen, the official said. “We are actively assessing the incident to determine the cause and any subsequent actions,” the official added.
Yemen’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on the social media platform X that the drone was intercepted while “violating Yemeni airspace and conducting hostile operations” in Hudaydah province. He said it was the 15th aircraft brought down by Yemeni forces as part of the “Battle of the Promised Liberation and the Sacred Jihad,” a campaign they say supports Gaza and Lebanon.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza, Yemeni forces have expanded their military operations in the Red Sea in recent months, targeting vessels linked to Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians. 
They have also repeatedly targeted U.S. and British military vessels and jets in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in retaliation for the two countries airstrikes on Yemen in support of Israel. 
Last month, Yemeni forces launched surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at an American fighter jet.
The downing came after Washington re-designated Ansarullah as a foreign terrorist organization in line with a directive from President Donald Trump in January.  
Former President Joe Biden had previously overturned a decision by the Trump administration to include Ansarullah on the FTO list, after humanitarian organizations raised concerns that such a designation would hinder aid efforts in Yemen, which has been enduring one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises due to years of a Western-backed war by Saudi Arabia and its allies on the impoverished nation.