Houthis announce hitting Israeli Nevatim Airbase, downing US MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen

CAIRO – 8 November 2024: Houthi fighters declared on Friday that they successfully struck Israel's southern Nevatim Airbase with a hypersonic ballistic rocket named "Palestine 2" and shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper while it was flying over Yemen.

"The missile has hit its target, praise be to Allah," stated Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for the Houthi fighters, in a recorded speech shared on his Twitter account.

Additionally, he reported the downing of the US drone during its "hostile missions" in the airspace of Al-Jawf governorate earlier today, bringing the total number of American aircraft shot down by the Houthis to 12 since the commencement of the Israeli war in Gaza in October 2023.

Saree underlined that these operations were conducted in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and their resistance movements in response to the suffering inflicted by Israeli aggression.

He reaffirmed the ongoing naval blockade against the Israeli adversary and other military actions, pledging that these activities will persist until the aggression ceases, the blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted, and the assault on Lebanon comes to an end.

Since the start of the Gaza war, the Houthis have attacked dozens of Israeli-linked ships, including US vessels, in the Red Sea with missiles and drones in support of Hamas fighters in Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, a US-led coalition formed to counter the Houthi attacks managed to intercept other missiles and drones and the US forces struck several Houthi targets in Yemen.

Over the past 13 months, Israel has persisted in its war in Gaza, killing over 43,508 Palestinians, despite international calls for immediate and lasting ceasefire.

Israeli forces have also killed more than 3,000 individuals and injured 13,658 others in Lebanon in Israel-Hezbollah cross-border clashes since the beginning of the Gaza war, as per Lebanese government data.

The majority of the casualties took place within the past month, coinciding with Israel's extensive airstrikes throughout Lebanon and the commencement of a ground offensive in the Arab country on 1 October.

Israel also launched massive attacks on Houthi-linked targets over the past months and has exchanged fire with Iran in a move widely feared to push the region to the brink of an all-out war.