JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
NEW YORK (AP) — It's probably the last place a mom wants to spend Mother's Day with her kids. But a family visiting space at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail complex is a little more kid-friendly after a colorful redesign by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
The jail opened the new preschool play and learning room for the children and grandchildren of female prisoners Tuesday, a few days ahead of the Sunday holiday.
“Mother’s Day means everything to me,” said Rikers inmate Nadine Leach, 43, as she watched her three-year-old granddaughter, Queen, excitedly explore the sound machines, coloring books and toys.
One interactive wall display shows a map of the city’s five boroughs. Buttons below trigger city sounds, like the screech of a subway.
Leach’s daughter Lashawna Jones, 27, said the play installation is beautiful compared with her last visit. Before, it was a mostly bare room, with a few books. Jones said the design focused her children’s attention on imaginative play, instead of their grandmother being in jail and awaiting trial on a felony drug charge.
“It makes me sad that she’s not actually home with us for Mother’s Day. Because I feel like a little sad coming here to visit her here because I’m used to having her physically home with us. Like, right now, I’m being a big girl; I’m holding my tears back,” Jones said.
To get to the facility, families take a bus, go through security and drug screenings, and pass by walls with six layers of razer wire. Outside the new play center, a sign on blue cinderblock reads, “Inmates are permitted to hold their children during the visit.”
The visitation hub was designed and installed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and replicates exhibitions at the museum’s home on the Upper West Side.
The exhibits teach preschool skills: communication, sharing, literacy and executive function, said Leslie Bushara, the museum’s chief program officer.
Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, cut a giant green ceremonial ribbon to open the room.
“We want mothers to have interactions with their kids,” Maginley-Liddie said. “You know, being incarcerated can be very difficult. It can be difficult on the children. It can be difficult on the moms. And it’s important for them to have those connections even while they’re in our care, so that when they are released, that bond has been sustained during incarceration."
Rikers Island consists mainly of men's jail facilities that house around 6,000 people. Child-friendly exhibits will be added to those facilities over the next year, the museum said in a statement. Funding for the exhibits also will allow approved inmates to travel to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan twice per month.
People jailed at Rikers are either charged with crimes being tested in court or are serving short sentences. City officials voted to close the entire complex in 2026 and replace it with smaller neighborhood facilities that would be easier for relatives to visit, but the deadline was pushed back. Poor conditions have raised the prospect of a federal takeover.
The women’s jail, called the Rose M. Singer Center, currently holds around 370 people, according to the Department of Corrections. State officials moved hundreds of women into state facilities in 2021 in an effort to improve safety.
Associated Press writer Cedar Attanasio contributed to this report.
The Rikers Island jail complex with razor wire fencing is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
A surveillance camera is shown in a visitation hub area of the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
A sign on the wall of a visitation hub at the Rikers Island jail complex reads "Inmates Are Permitted to Hold Their Children During the Visit" at the facility in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction Lynelle Maginley-Liddie is photographed in the newly opened preschool play and learn hub for inmate mothers and visiting children in the Rose M. Singer Center at the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Leslie Bushara, Chief Program Officer at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, is photographed in the newly opened preschool play and learn visitation hub that the museum designed and installed in the Rose M. Singer Center at the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, right, sits in the newly opened preschool play and learn hub for inmate mothers and visiting children in the Rose M. Singer Center at the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction Lynelle Maginley-Liddie is photographed in the newly opened preschool play and learn hub for inmate mothers and visiting children in the Rose M. Singer Center at the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Inmate Nadine Leach, 43, right, visits with her grandchildren and daughter Lashawna Jones, 27, in the newly opened preschool play and learn visitation hub in the Rose M. Singer Center at the Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
