Houthis successful targeting of US drones is hampering Trump’s mission to kill group’s senior leadership

In the month since the US launched a major military campaign targeting the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, the militants have successfully shot down at least seven multi-million-dollar American drones, hindering the US’ ability to move into “phase two” of the operation, multiple US officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

In the month since the US launched a major military campaign targeting the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, the militants have successfully shot down at least seven multi-million-dollar American drones, hindering the US’ ability to move into “phase two” of the operation, multiple US officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The US was hoping to achieve air superiority over Yemen within 30 days, officials said and degrade Houthi air defense systems enough to begin a new phase focusing on ramping up intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance of senior Houthi leaders in order to target and kill them, the officials said. But the platforms best suited to conduct that persistent effort, the MQ9 Reaper drones, keep getting shot down, the officials explained. In fact, the Houthis are only getting better at targeting them, the officials said. The US does not have boots on the ground in Yemen, so it relies on overhead surveillance — much of it from the MQ9s—to conduct battlefield damage assessments and track terrorists. CNN reported earlier this month that the US had killed several Houthi officials considered to be mid-level, akin to “middle management,” rather than senior political leadership. The officials said the US had hit over 700 targets and launched more than 300 airstrikes since the campaign began on March 15. The strikes have forced the Houthis to stay underground more and left them in a “confused and disarrayed state,” the officials noted. But the consistent loss of the drones has made it more difficult for the US to determine precisely how much the US has degraded the Houthis’ weapons stockpiles.