A senior U.S. military official confirmed that Iranian-backed Houthis based in Yemen shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone.

The drone was over international waters when it was shot down, and the official noted that the military is "always concerned with where one of our aircraft goes down," so recovering it is "of major importance to us."

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This incident represents the latest such event that threatens to expand the war between Israel and Hamas into a regional conflict.

Last week, the Houthis said they launched missile and drone attacks against Israel, while last month, a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea shot down missiles from Yemen that U.S. officials said could've been intended for Israeli targets.

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The downing of an American drone comes as U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq have been attacked more than 40 times in recent weeks by one-way drones and rockets from Iranian proxies. More than 40 U.S. service members have been injured in those attacks, though none of them have been seriously harmed.

The United States, in response to those attacks against American troops, launched airstrikes against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Syria on Oct. 26 and on Wednesday.