Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a new assault on a ship in the Red Sea, this time on a United States vessel, allegedly transporting missiles and weapons to Israel, as reported by the group’s spokesperson, Yahya Saree, on Wednesday. “The naval forces, the missile force, and the unmanned air force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a joint military operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones, targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity,” the statement reads. According to Saree, this operation was carried out as an initial retaliation for the attack suffered by the militia’s naval forces at the hands of the American forces on Sunday.
A US Navy destroyer has reportedly come under fire from Houthi rebels in Yemen, in the third such incident in a week.”The [USS] Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defence cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen,” Navy Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told reporters at an event in Baltimore, broadcaster NBC News said. Richardson said the ship had deployed countermeasures in the incident and had not been struck. The US launched retaliatory strikes against three radar stations in Houthi-controlled areas earlier this week after the ship was twice targeted by missiles apparently fired by the rebels. The bombardment was the first known to have been carried out by the US against Houthi targets in Yemen since Washington’s ally, Saudi Arabia, started an air campaign against the Iran-allied rebels in March 2015.