Cairo, Dec. 27, (dpa/GNA) – The US military on Tuesday said it has shot down 12 attack drones and five missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the south of the Red Sea.
F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from a US aircraft carrier group were deployed. No ships in the area were damaged and no casualties were reported, the US Regional Command for the Middle East (Centcom) said on Tuesday on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen had fired kamikaze drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles over a period of about 10 hours on Tuesday, Centcom said.
Earlier the rebels said that they had attacked a merchant ship.
In a statement, the group said that the crew of the MSC United had ignored several warnings. The ship was then attacked with rockets. It initially remained unclear whether there were any casualties or damage.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group’s naval forces attacked the commercial vessel after its crew ignored three warnings.
MSC confirmed in a statement that its ship was attacked earlier on Tuesday while it was en route from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.
“Currently, all crew are safe with no reported injuries and a thorough assessment of the vessel is being conducted,” the company said without providing more details on the attack.
Since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, an increasing number of ships in the Red Sea have been attacked by the Houthi rebels. The group is demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
US intelligence officials have said they see Tehran as behind the attacks, which have disrupted maritime traffic through the Suez Canal, one of the busiest trade arteries in the world.
Sarea also said that drones were launched targeting the Israeli southern port city Eilat on Tuesday and “other areas in occupied Palestine.”
Egypt shot down a drone near the Red Sea city of Dahab earlier on Tuesday, a military source in the country said.
Israel also said it intercepted an enemy object in the Red Sea area that was fired towards Israel.