U.S. Destroyer, Commercial Vessels Attacked by Drones, Missiles in Red Sea
Houthi-led Yemeni forces say attacks were response to Israeli war in Gaza
A U.S. destroyer and several commercial ships operating in the Red Sea came under drone and ballistic missile attacks, a U.S. defense official said Sunday, marking the most significant escalation of a weekslong military attack on ships operating in those waters.
The USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, struck a drone that was “in the direction of the ship” and launched from a Houthi-controlled part of Yemen, the official said.
At roughly the same time, the MV Unity Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged bulk cargo ship, came under a ballistic missile attack that landed near the ship, the official said. The commercial ship sent a distress call and the Carney moved toward the ship in response, the official said.
As the Carney was assessing the damage on the commercial ship, it spotted a second drone operating nearby and shot it down, the official said. The official didn’t say what the destroyer used to bring down the drones.
The official stressed that the U.S. has so far only done an initial assessment and is still determining the details of what happened. Other commercial ships also came under attack and the Carney also shot down additional drones, the official said, but didn’t have further details.
In a statement, the Yemeni armed forces confirmed the attack, saying it launched a missile toward the Unity Explorer and a drone at another commercial cargo ship “in response to the demands of our great Yemeni people and the calls of the free people of our Arab and Islamic nation to stand fully with the choices of the Palestinian people and their proud resistance.”
“The Yemeni Armed Forces renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement and previous statements issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces,” the statement said.
The Carney has come under a number of attacks since it began operating in the Red Sea, shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, as have some U.S. Naval vessels. Last week, the Carney, operating in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shot down an Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen. And an Iranian-made drone flew near a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as it operated in the Arabian Gulf.