 Houthis shot down USMQ-9 Reaper drone in area near Yemen. The Houthis said they shot down a USMQ-9 Reaper drone off the coast of Yemen. According to US officials, the Pentagon is investigating the cause of the drone crash The New York Times reports. The officials speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that the MQ-9 Reaper drone went down. The man-backed militants said that they had shot down a drone near the port city of Al-Hudaida in western Yemen. If the Houthis claims are true, it will be the second time the group has shot down a US drone since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The downing of a Reaper drone, the mainstay of the US military's air surveillance fleet marks the latest escalation between the US and Iranian-backed groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. These episodes have intensified over the past two months, highlighting the risk that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a wider one. One of the American officials speaking on condition of anonymity reported that the American General Atomic's drone was shot down near Hudaida. Another official said that the drone was shot down by a Houthi surface-to-air missile launched from the Hudaida area. In November of last year, the Houthis shot down another MQ-9 drone. The Houthi militants said that they had attacked the Rubimar cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden, which was at risk of sinking. Since November of last year, Houthi attacks on trade ships related to Israel in the Red Sea have continued.