BAGDHAD (AFP) : A US warship patrolling the Red Sea intercepted multiple attack drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Thursday, the US Central Command said.
“On the morning (Yemen time) of November 23, the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) shot down multiple one-way attack drones launched from Houthi controlled areas in Yemen,” CENTCOM said on X.
“The ship and crew sustained no damage or injury,” it added.
The Houthis have declared themselves part of an “axis of resistance” of Iran’s allies and proxies retaliating against Israel’s war with Hamas.
The conflict has raised the specter of a broader Middle East conflagration, with the frontier between Lebanon and Israel also seeing near-daily exchanges of fire.
The Houthis in Yemen have launched a series of drones and missiles toward Israel since the October 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war.
On Wednesday, Israel said it had intercepted a “cruise missile” heading for the south of the country, a shot claimed by the Houthi rebels.
“Our forces launched missiles at various military targets” in southern Israel, Yahia Saree, spokesman for the armed wing of the Houthis, wrote on X.
“We will continue to carry out military operations until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank stops,” he added.
The Houthis have also threatened to target Israeli shipping and on Sunday said they seized the Galaxy Leader, an Israel-linked cargo vessel and its 25 international crew, at the entrance to the Red Sea.
Israel’s military said the seizure was a “very grave incident of global consequence,” and a US military official said it was “a flagrant violation of international law.”
On Wednesday, Israel and Hamas said they had agreed on a four-day cease-fire during which there will be a hostage and prisoner swap.
Around 240 hostages were taken by Hamas and other Palestinian gunmen during bloody raids into Israel on October 7, which also killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
The attack prompted a major Israeli offensive into Hamas-run Gaza, which authorities there say has killed more than 14,000 people, two thirds of them women and children.
