JERUSALEM (AP) — On Friday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile at a U.S. warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, prompting the warship to intercept and shoot down the missile. Additionally, a British vessel was struck by the rebels in another aggressive attack on maritime traffic. The attack on the U.S. warship, the destroyer USS Carney, represents a significant escalation in the maritime conflict in the Middle East. The attack on the Carney marks the first time the Houthis have directly targeted a U.S. warship since their assaults on shipping began in October, according to an anonymous U.S. official due to lack of authorization to discuss the incident.
Later on Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Operations, overseeing Mideast waterways, confirmed that a vessel had been struck by a missile and was on fire in the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not acknowledge the Carney attack but claimed responsibility for the missile attack on the commercial vessel that caught fire, identifying it as the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Marlin Luanda. A U.S. military official confirmed that the vessel was hit by a single anti-ship ballistic missile fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen. The Carney was heading toward the stricken ship to offer assistance but had not reached it by Friday evening. The direct attacks on U.S. warships by the Houthis represent a significant escalation of their campaign in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The U.S. has been cautious in its descriptions of the Houthi strikes, aiming to prevent the conflict from spiraling into a wider regional war. The U.S. and its allies had refrained from targeting Houthi weapons sites in Yemen for weeks but are now taking regular action, often destroying armed launch sites deemed an imminent threat but not yet fired upon.
Despite the direct targeting of the Carney, a statement from the U.S. military’s Central Command on Friday mentioned that the Houthis fired “toward” the Carney. Brad Bowman, a senior director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, emphasized the importance of acknowledging Friday’s assault as a direct attack on a U.S. warship, stating that it signifies the Houthis’ attempt to attack and harm U.S. forces. Bowman also suggested that the tempered language and response, meant to prevent a wider war, may have inadvertently emboldened the Houthis. In the recent attack, an anti-ship ballistic missile approached the USS Carney, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer involved in American operations to counter the Houthi campaign since November, Central Command said.
“The missile was successfully shot down by USS Carney,” the statement indicated. “There were no injuries or damage reported.” The attacks are the latest in the rebels’ campaign against ships traveling through the Red Sea and surrounding waters, causing disruption in global trade amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. and Britain have carried out multiple rounds of airstrikes in response to the Houthi attacks, targeting missile depots and launcher sites in Yemen, a country plagued by conflict since the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, stating retaliation for Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. However, they have frequently targeted vessels with weak or no clear links to Israel, putting shipping in an important global trade route between Asia, the Mideast, and Europe in jeopardy. Following the airstrike campaign, the rebels declared their intention to target American and British ships. On Wednesday, two American-flagged ships carrying cargo for the U.S. Defense and State departments were attacked by the Houthis, prompting a U.S. Navy warship to intercept and shoot down some of the projectiles.
The U.S. Navy’s top commander in the Middle East informed the AP on Monday that the Houthi attacks are the most severe since the “Tanker War” of the 1980s, culminating in a one-day naval battle between Washington and Tehran. The conflict also saw the U.S. Navy accidentally shoot down an Iranian passenger jet, resulting in the death of 290 people in 1988.
___Copp reported from Washington.
