• US Defense Department says MQ-9 Reaper crashed in Yemen
• British-owned oil tanker damaged after being hit by missiles

Saeed Al-Batati

AL-MUKALLA: The Houthis claim the US is planning a new round of strikes on Yemen in response to its attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the downing of an American drone.

In a post on X on Saturday afternoon, Hussein Al-Ezzi, the militia’s deputy foreign minister, said: “Now America and its mercenaries are considering new hostile plans, and we tell them the same thing: you will fail.”

In a separate message, posted on X on Saturday morning, Al-Ezzi said the Houthis were aware that the US was plotting a fresh military campaign against them and pledged to strike back against US interests wherever they may be.

That warning came after military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the militia launched missiles at the British-owned and Panamanian-flagged Andromeda Star oil tanker in the Red Sea and shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone above its stronghold in the northern province of Saada.

US Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry told The Associated Press on Saturday that an MQ-9 drone had crashed in Yemen and that an inquiry was underway.

The US Central Command said on Saturday morning that the Andromeda Star received minor damage after being hit by missiles launched by the Houthis on Friday afternoon.

Shipping website Marinetraffic.com said the tanker was traveling from the Port of Sudan to an unnamed destination.

Houthi missiles on Friday also fell near the MV MAISHA, an oil tanker controlled by Liberia and traveling under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, the Central Command said.

Since November, the Houthis have seized one commercial ship, sunk another and launched hundreds of missiles and drones at commercial and navy vessels in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The group claims it targets vessels bound for or with links to Israel in a bid to force it to break its blockade on the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, the Houthis ended a nearly two-week break in their attacks by claiming credit for hitting a US-owned ship, a US Navy destroyer and an Israeli vessel in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni government and the Houthis swapped accusations on Saturday after a drone laden with explosives killed five women in the Maqbanah district of Taiz province.

The government said the Houthis launched the drone at women gathering water from a well and also fired artillery rounds and heavy machine guns into civilian areas and military sites southeast of Taiz.

The Houthi Ministry of Health said three women and two children were killed after a drone launched by Yemeni government soldiers cut through a crowd of villagers getting water from a well in Al-Shajeen village in Maqbanah.