The Iran-backed group launched drones and fired missiles at two US warships in an hours-long assault, the Pentagon confirms.
US warships got here beneath sustained missile and drone assault from Houthi fighters as they sailed off the coast of Yemen, the Pentagon has confirmed, with the armed group claiming it attacked the US plane service Abraham Lincoln and two US destroyers.
Pentagon spokesperson Air Power Main Basic Patrick Ryder mentioned on Tuesday that the United States navy’s Central Command (CENTCOM) forces “efficiently repelled a number of Iranian backed Houthi assaults throughout a transit of the Bab al-Mandeb strait”, which connects the Pink Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Ryder advised reporters at a information convention that two US-guided missile destroyers – the USS Stockdale and USS Spruance – have been attacked by not less than eight one-way assault drones, 5 antiship ballistic missiles and three antiship cruise missiles.
All of the Houthi drones and missiles “have been efficiently engaged and defeated”, and neither of the US Navy ships have been broken or personnel harm, he mentioned.
Ryder added that he was not conscious of any assaults in opposition to the plane service USS Abraham Lincoln.
Earlier on Tuesday, Houthi fighters introduced that that they had carried out two “particular navy operations” in opposition to the US Navy in an assault lasting eight hours.
“The primary operation focused the American plane service (Abraham) situated within the Arabian Sea with various cruise missiles and drones,” Houthi navy spokesman Yahya Sarea mentioned in an announcement.
“The opposite operation focused two American destroyers within the Pink Sea with various ballistic missiles and drones,” he mentioned, including that the operation had “efficiently achieved its goals”.
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The Houthis, who management massive areas of Yemen, together with the capital Sanaa, have been finishing up assaults on Israel-linked transport within the Pink Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023, in what it says is a marketing campaign of solidarity with Palestinians.
The armed group, nevertheless, has additionally been accused of attacking industrial ships with no apparent connection to Israel or its conflict on Gaza.
The Houthis have focused greater than 90 vessels with missiles and drones, killing 4 sailors and sinking two ships. The crew of 1 vessel – the Galaxy Chief, a British-owned and Japanese-operated service, hijacked final November – stay detained in Yemen.
The Yemeni group has demanded that Israel finish its conflict on Gaza as a situation for stopping the assaults, which have severely disrupted commerce in one of many world’s busiest maritime routes.
The US, with assist from the UK, has carried out repeated strikes on targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in response to the Pink Sea transport assaults.
On Sunday, the US and UK launched air strikes on Sanaa and the northern Amran governorate, with the Pentagon saying it had focused Houthi superior weapons storage amenities.
The assaults got here simply weeks after intensive US raids on Houthi targets during which B-2 strategic bombers participated for the primary time, finishing up strikes in opposition to 5 underground weapons storage places.