US loses drones in Yemen as rising civilian toll fuels backlash over Trump’s air campaign.
Yemen’s Houthi armed group has shot down seven US Reaper drones worth more than $200m in recent weeks, marking the most significant material loss yet in Washington’s campaign against the fighters.
The drones were destroyed between March 31 and April 22, according to defence officials, as the Houthis step up efforts to target United States aircraft operating over Yemen.
Three of the drones were lost in the past week alone, suggesting an improvement in the Houthis’ ability to strike high-altitude US aircraft.
The drones – each costing about $30m – were conducting surveillance or attack missions when they crashed into water or land. A defence official said the strikes occurred on March 31 and on April 3, 9, 13, 18, 19 and 22, according to The Associated Press news agency.
Dozens of civilians have been reported killed in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen since March 15 after US President Donald Trump ordered daily strikes against the group.
Central Command spokesperson Dave Eastburn said on Thursday that US forces have struck more than 800 targets, destroying command centres, weapons depots and air defences, and killing hundreds of Houthi fighters and leaders. This claim could not be independently verified.
Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone losses are under investigation but are likely the result of hostile fire, the AP reported.
The Houthis have targeted mainly Israeli, US and British ships passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza. The group has said the attacks would stop if Israel agreed to a permanent ceasefire.
Mounting civilian death toll
The Trump administration appears to have shifted from targeting only infrastructure to deliberately striking figures within the Houthi movement.
The strategic change comes amid rising civilian casualties from the US-led campaign, according to Airwars, a UK-based monitoring group.
Airwars estimates that between 27 and 55 civilians were killed in US strikes during March. The group believes the toll in April is already considerably higher, though full figures remain unconfirmed.
Earlier this month, a US air strike targeted the Ras Isa port, also in Hodeidah, killing at least 80 people and wounding more than 150.
This was followed by another attack on Monday, which killed 12 people and wounded more than 30 others in Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
Concerns are growing in Washington over the human cost of the campaign.
Senators Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren and Tim Kaine have written to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, questioning whether the administration is abandoning its responsibility to reduce civilian harm, particularly after reports emerged about the high civilian death toll on the Ras Isa fuel terminal.
