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US Navy Thwarts Houthi Attack in Red Sea, Militias Remain Defiant

The Houthi attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade. (Reuters)
The Houthi attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade. (Reuters)
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US Navy Thwarts Houthi Attack in Red Sea, Militias Remain Defiant

The Houthi attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade. (Reuters)
The Houthi attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade. (Reuters)

An American warship shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias, the US military said.

In a post on the X platform on Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM): “The USS MASON (DDG 87) shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in the Southern Red Sea that were fired by the Houthis between 5:45 - 6: 10 p.m. (Sanaa time) on Dec. 28.”

“There was no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area or reported injuries. This is the 22nd attempted attack by Houthis on international shipping since Oct. 19,” it noted.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.

The attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade, prompting the United States to set up a multinational naval task force earlier this month to protect Red Sea shipping.

In addition to US military action, the Treasury Department unveiled sanctions Thursday against a network involved in financing Houthi attacks.

The Treasury said it had sanctioned the head of the Currency Exchangers Association in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, along with three exchanges in Yemen and Türkiye responsible for "facilitating the flow of Iranian financial assistance" to the Houthis.

The Houthis say they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis remain defiant. Defense minister in its illegitimate government Mohammed al-Atefi said the militias “don’t recognize red lines,” claiming that they possess weapons with “unexpected” ranges.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam threatened to turn the Red Sea into a battlefield after the US Navy shot down a Houthi drone.

He warned the US against its continued “bullish” activity, saying the Houthis were justified in attacking vessels in the Red Sea after Washington and its allies turned the region into a military zone.

He charged that the US and its allies are passing through the region solely to protect Israeli vessels.

The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began when the Palestinian militant group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Following the attack, the United States rushed military aid to Israel, which has carried out a relentless campaign in Gaza that has killed at least 21,320 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Those deaths have sparked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for attacks by armed groups across the region that are opposed to Israel.

US forces in Iraq and Syria have also repeatedly come under fire from drone and rocket attacks that Washington says are being carried out by Iran-backed armed groups.

On Monday, a drone attack wounded three American personnel in northern Iraq, after which the US military struck three sites it said were used by Iran-backed forces in the country.

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Arab World

US Airs Frustration with Israel’s Military About Strikes in Gaza 

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters on September 16, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters on September 16, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
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US Airs Frustration with Israel’s Military About Strikes in Gaza 

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters on September 16, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the UN, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters on September 16, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday accused Israel’s military of striking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing American frustration with its close ally as the war approaches its first anniversary.

Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas fighters, who often hide with civilians and use them as human shields, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a UN Security Council meeting, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed UN personnel and humanitarian workers “were preventable.”

Many council members cited last week’s Israeli strike on a former school turned civilian shelter run by the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in which six UNRWA staffers were among at least 18 people killed, including women and children.

Israel said it targeted a Hamas command-and-control center in the compound, and Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, asserted Monday that Hamas fighters were killed in the strike. He named four, claiming to the council that they worked for UNRWA during the day and Hamas at night.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.

Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the US will keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory and protect humanitarian workers and facilities like the UNRWA shelter.

She also reiterated US “outrage” at the death of Turkish American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed during a protest in the West Bank last week. Israeli Defense Forces said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has begun a criminal investigation.

“The IDF is a professional military and knows well how to ensure that incidents such as these do not happen,” the US envoy said.

Thomas-Greenfield said the United States expects Israeli military leaders to implement “fundamental changes” in their operations — including to their rules of engagement and procedures to ensure that military operations do not conflict with humanitarian activities and do not target schools and other civilian facilities.

“We have also been unequivocal in communicating to Israel that there is no basis — absolutely none — for its forces to be opening fire on clearly marked UN vehicles as recently occurred on numerous occasions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

At the same time, she said Hamas is also hiding in — and in some cases, taking over or using — civilian sites, which poses “an ongoing threat.”

She said it underscores the urgency of reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. While the United States works with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to get both sides “to agree that enough is enough,” she said, “this is ultimately a question of political will” and difficult compromises.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt this week for talks partly about refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas.

The United States urges “all council members with influence over Hamas to join others in pressing its leaders to stop stalling, make these compromises, and accept the deal without delay,” Thomas-Greenfield.

She spoke after the top UN humanitarian official in Gaza said the territory is “hell on Earth” for its more than 2 million people, calling the lack of effective protection for civilians “unconscionable.”

Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told council members and reporters that the war has turned the territory “into the abyss.”

Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Humanitarian operations are being impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting and difficult conditions for aid workers that include Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and “poor logistical infrastructure,” Kaag said.

Danon insisted that Israel's humanitarian efforts “are unparalleled” for a country forced to go to war and urged the Security Council and the UN “to speak to the facts.”

Over 1 million tons of aid have been delivered via more than 50,000 trucks and nearly 1 million land crossings, he said, adding that hardly a fraction have been stopped.

When asked about Danon’s statement, Kaag pointed to recent strikes on humanitarian convoys and schools and health facilities where Israel had received prior notification.

“It’s not about trucks. It’s about what people need,” she said. “We’re way, way off what people need, not only daily, but also what we would all consider a dignified human life.”