2024-01-15 06:06:01
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Houthi rebels in Yemen launched an anti-ship cruise missile at a U.S. destroyer in the Red Sea on Sunday, although it was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet. The incident added to other attacks that have shaken global shipping traffic during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to authorities.
It was the first attack by the Houthis reported by the United States since Washington and its allied countries began attacking the rebels on Friday after weeks of attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have focused on that crucial corridor that connects energy and merchandise shipments from Asia and the Middle East to the Suez Canal and from there to Europe. Attacks protesting the war between Israel and Hamas threaten to turn that conflict into a broader regional conflagration.
The Houthis, a Shiite rebel group allied with Iran that took the Yemeni capital in 2014, did not initially acknowledge the attack.
It was unclear whether the United States would retaliate for the latest attack, although President Joe Biden has said he will not hesitate “to direct further action to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce if necessary.”
Sunday’s Houthi missile was aimed at the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the southern Red Sea, according to a statement from the US military’s Central Command.
The projectile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city that the Houthis have long controlled, said the United States, which said no damage or injuries had been reported.
The US-led strikes reached 28 points on their first day and hit more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched from fighter jets, military ships and a submarine. Among the locations hit were weapons depots, radars and command centers, even in remote mountain areas, according to the United States.
The Houthis have not yet acknowledged the extent of damage from the attacks, which they said killed five of their soldiers and wounded six others.
US forces continued an attack on a Houthi radar on Saturday.
The attacks have reduced shipping traffic through the Red Sea. The US Navy on Friday warned US-flagged ships to stay away from areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the initial attacks.
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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
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