2024-02-24T05:17:19+00:00
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/ US forces shot down 3 attack drones near commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea on Friday, and destroyed 7 anti-ship cruise missiles stationed on the ground, the day after striking 4 drones that were prepared for launch in Yemen, according to the US military.
Since November 19, the Houthis have been carrying out attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea that they suspect are linked to Israel or heading to its ports, declaring that this comes in support of the Gaza Strip, which has been witnessing a war between Hamas and Israel since October 7.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a statement on a social networking site that US forces were able (early Friday) to “shoot down 3 Houthi suicide drones near a number of commercial cargo ships operating in the Red Sea. The ships were not damaged.”
In a statement issued later, US Central Command said that US forces destroyed “seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles belonging to the Iranian-backed Houthis that were prepared to be launched towards the Red Sea.”
She added that these strikes were carried out between 12:30 pm and 7:15 pm Sana’a time, and were launched in self-defense.
“CENTCOM detected these missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they posed an imminent threat to commercial vessels and US Navy ships in the region,” it said.
CENTCOM said that US forces struck four Houthi drones and two anti-ship cruise missiles on Thursday, explaining that the weapons “were prepared to be launched towards the Red Sea from areas in Yemen controlled by the Houthis.”
In an attempt to deter them, US and British forces have been launching strikes on Houthi sites since January 12.
The US military alone occasionally carries out strikes that it says target sites or missiles and drones prepared for launch.
Following the Western strikes, the Houthis began targeting American and British ships in the region, considering the interests of the two countries to be “legitimate targets.”