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.
