US and UK military forces successfully intercepted over 20 drones and missiles in the Red Sea, launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. London has characterized this event as the “largest attack” to date by the Iran-backed insurgents.
US and UK forces have shot down more than 20 drones and missiles over the Red Sea launched by Yemen’s Houthis, in what London branded Wednesday the “largest attack” yet by the Iran-backed rebels.
The Western allies’ warships and planes took out 18 drones and three missiles in their latest Red Sea military intervention on Tuesday, the US military said.
The Houthis later said they had fired a “large number” of missiles and drones at a US ship, without providing details of timing and location.
HMS Diamond, a British destroyer, intervened with “her guns and Sea Viper missiles” as drones were “heading for her and commercial shipping in the area,” UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said.
This comes one week after 12 nations led by the United States warned the Houthis of consequences unless they immediately halted firing on commercial vessels in the busy international shipping corridor.
Shapps later said on Sky News, “We must be clear with the Houthis that this has to stop, and that is my simple message to them today: Watch this space.”
‘Complex Attack’
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the Houthis had launched “a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs,” and had also fired anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
They were downed by a combination of F/A-18 warplanes operating from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, three American destroyers and the British naval vessel, CENTCOM said.
The attack targeted a US ship that was “providing support” to Israel during its war against Hamas, he said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
The incident is the latest since the US set up a multinational naval task force last month to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, which are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
