DUBAI — US and allied forces destroyed 15 drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, in the Red Sea and the gulf from Aden, the US military command for the Middle East (Centcom) indicated on Saturday.
This “large-scale” drone attack constitutes “an imminent threat to merchant vessels, the US Navy and coalition ships in the region,” he said. For this reason, alliance warships and aircraft shot them down, Centcom added in a message on the X network.
U.S. officials said their Navy and allied warships and warplanes had shot down 15 Houthi drones loaded with explosives in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
It is one of the most important attacks by Yemen’s insurgents since they began actions in November against ships transiting the Red Sea, a strategic zone for world tradein “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war against the terrorist group Hamas, after the deadliest attack perpetrated on October 7 against the Jewish population that left 1,200 people murdered and more than 200 kidnapped.
“These initiatives were taken to protect freedom of navigation and to make international waters safer,” Centcom said.
Faced with the multiplication of Houthi attacks, the United States announced in December an initiative to strengthen maritime security in the Red Sea, through which 12% of world trade passes.
Missile destruction
The United States carried out airstrikes on Friday over Yemen in which it said it destroyed two Houthi truck-mounted anti-ship missiles. The rebels did not directly acknowledge this damage.
The group has controlled northern Yemen and the capital, Sanaa, for a decade, and since 2015 they have faced a coalition led by Saudi Arabia in a stagnant civil war in the Arab world’s most impoverished country.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
