Houthis target cargo ship and launch drones towards US Navy in Red Sea

US confirms forces were responding to a large-scale attack by ‘Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists’

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The Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday claimed they had targeted the bulk carrier Propel Fortune in the Gulf of Aden, as well as US Navy vessels.

The militants launched assaults on “US war destroyers in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with 37 drones”, spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech early on Saturday.

It marks the latest attacks by the Iranian-backed group on Red Sea shipping, which makes up about 12 per cent of global seaborne trade.

Since November 21, the Houthis have been attacking vessels in the international waterway, as part of their pressure campaign over Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7 after a large-scale Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The Houthis are allies of Palestinian group Hamas and say they will not stop the Red Sea attacks until Israel halts its bombardment and ground invasion of the Strip, which has so far killed about 31,000 Palestinians.

Mr Sarea repeated that the group would continue its attacks “until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted”.

American navy ships and aircraft shot down 15 “uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) early on Saturday”, the US Central Command said.

US forces were responding to a large-scale attack by “Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists” launched into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between 4am and 6.30 am, the Central Command, America’s military headquarters in the Middle East, said in a post on X, formally known as Twitter.

The UAVs were determined to present “an imminent threat to merchant vessels, US Navy, and coalition ships in the region,” it said.

On Friday, the US said it also conducted air strikes that destroyed two Houthi vehicle-mounted anti-ship missiles in Yemen.

The rebels did not directly acknowledge any destruction from those strikes.

The Houthis have held vast areas of northern Yemen and the country’s capital of Sanaa since 2014.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Wednesday the US would continue to hold Yemen’s Houthis accountable for attacks on international shipping.