Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked American warships in the Middle East with a combined drone and cruise missile strike, the Pentagon confirmed on Friday. Earlier in the day, the military group claimed to have struck three US destroyers heading toward Israel in the Red Sea.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed that US Navy ships were attacked but insisted that no damage was inflicted.
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“We did see a complex attack launched by the Houthis that ranged from cruise missiles to UAVs,” she said at a press briefing on Friday. “My understanding is that those were either engaged and shot down or failed; at no time did any hit a US ship.”
The Houthis targeted three US Navy destroyers that were “supporting Israel” with 23 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone, according to Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, which cited the group’s spokesman on Friday. He claimed that all three ships suffered direct hits and added that the attack was carried out with a simultaneous missile and drone launch at targets in Israel.
These operations “will not stop until the aggression on Gaza and Lebanon stops,” the spokesman said.
The Yemeni armed group has been attacking ships it associates with Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since October of last year, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israeli operation in the enclave.
Houthi attacks on shipping traversing one of the world’s busiest shipping straits have prompted the US and its allies to form an international naval coalition and deploy warships to the region, although the group has continued its assaults. This year’s Western and Israeli bombings of Yemen have also apparently left the group largely undeterred.
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Following recent escalations between Hezbollah and Israel, the Houthis have added to their list of demands an end to Israeli aggression against Lebanon.
Although the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel have routinely exchanged fire since the beginning of the war in Gaza, hostilities spiked in early September after thousands of hand-held devices detonated across Lebanon, killing dozens and injuring thousands. Israel subsequently announced a “new phase” in its war in Gaza and intensified airstrikes on Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah assets.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, more than 1,300 people have been killed in the Israeli bombings as of Friday.