Yemen: Once again, the Air Force of the Armed Forces shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in the skies over Marib governorate in the past few hours. 

This demonstrates the effectiveness of their air defenses in confronting US spy planes, after the Yemeni naval forces also showed great effectiveness at sea against US, British, and European warships. 

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e, confirmed that the drone was shot down by a domestically-produced surface-to-air missile, announcing that photos and videos will be released to prove the validity of this statement, since the United States could try to cover up the incident, as it has not announced the downing, despite the incident occurring on Thursday night.

Informed sources explained that the drone was shot down while flying over the contact areas within Marib governorate east of Sana'a, and its wreckage fell in the Al-Khaseef area in the Wadi Ubaydah district southeast of the city of Marib, outside of Ansarullah-controlled areas. 

Tribal sources told Al-Akhbar that the wreckage was found minutes after an explosion was heard in the middle of Thursday night, adding that the drone was flying intensively in the skies of Wadi Ubaydah, and the flights of spy and attack aircraft in the sky of the region come within a series of operations carried out by Washington from time to time, under the pretext of pursuing "Al-Qaeda" organization. The vast valley is considered one of the strongholds of the organization.

After activists in the Ubaydah tribe circulated photos of the intact wreckage of the drones, others later published photos showing the security authorities in Marib burning the wreckage.

Against this background, intelligence sources said that directives were issued from the US Embassy in Yemen, headquartered in Riyadh, to the Marib authorities to quickly burn the aircraft wreckage, noting that the burning was carried out by security authorities, under the pretext of not allowing this type of modern aircraft to fall into the hands of hostile parties.

This came especially since their production cost is high and reaches $32 million, as they have remote sensing devices, a multitasking communications suite, and guided weapons, and are used to carry out both espionage and combat missions at the same time.

In the same context, the political activist Salem Al-Mas'abi, who is from Marib, revealed that the Saudi-backed "Islah Party" authorities in the city of Marib were subjected to American pressure, which resulted in the burning of the wreckage. 

This drone is the fourth to be shot down by Sanaa's forces since last November, and the second within a month after Sanaa's air defenses managed to shoot down a similar drone in the sky of Saada Governorate at the beginning of the current month. Observers confirm that the downing of this type of drone at the rate at which it is happening confirms that Sanaa's forces are somewhat capable of protecting the sky of the governorates under their control.