US warship in Red Sea shoots down drone and missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis
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The USS Mason shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile on Dec 28, said the US military.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – An American warship shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired on Dec 28 by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the US military said.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane
“The USS Mason (DDG 87) shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in the southern Red Sea that were fired by the Houthis,” the United States Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement, referring to the guided missile destroyer.
“There was no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area or reported injuries,” Centcom said, adding that it was the 22nd attempted attack on international shipping by the Houthis since mid-October.
The attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 per cent of global trade, prompting the US to set up a multinational naval task force earlier in December to protect Red Sea shipping.
In addition to US military action, the Treasury Department unveiled sanctions on Dec 28 against a network involved in financing Houthi attacks.
The Treasury said it had sanctioned the head of the Currency Exchangers Association in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, along with three exchanges in Yemen and Turkey responsible for “facilitating the flow of Iranian financial assistance” to the Houthis.
The Yemeni rebels say they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began when the Palestinian militant group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on Oct 7
Following the attack, the US rushed military aid to Israel, which has carried out a relentless campaign in Gaza that has killed at least 21,320 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.
Those deaths have sparked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for attacks by armed groups across the region that are opposed to Israel.
US forces in Iraq and Syria have also repeatedly come under fire from drone and rocket attacks that Washington says are being carried out by Iran-backed armed groups.
On Dec 25, a drone attack wounded three American personnel
