US strikes at Houthi targets in Yemen after claim of attack on destroyers
PHOTO CAPTION: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) conducts flight operations against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in the Red Sea, Jan. 22, 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kaitlin Watt via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
By Renee Maltezou and Yomna Ehab
ATHENS/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. military forces have struck at targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen in the past 24 hours, destroying two drones, a Houthi ground control station, and three anti-ship cruise missiles, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
Earlier, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had attacked a container ship in the Red Sea and two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday.
CENTCOM said in a statement on the U.S strikes: "These weapons presented a clear and imminent threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region."
It said this "reckless and dangerous behavior" by the Houthis threatened regional stability, but it gave no further details and did not confirm that any U.S. vessels had been attacked.
CENTCOM is the U.S. military command that covers the Middle East.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said earlier that the Houthi air force had launched drones against the U.S. destroyer Cole and fired a number of ballistic missiles at the U.S. destroyer Laboon on Wednesday.
The Liberia-flagged container ship Contship Ono was also targeted with ballistic missiles and drones, he said.
Contships Management in Athens told Reuters the vessel had not been hit and its crew were safe.
A U.S. official said there was no data or information to corroborate the Houthis' claim that the two warships had been attacked.
The Houthi militants have carried out repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial shipping channels of the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November to show their support for Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Shippers have been forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
The frequency of the attacks, however, appeared to have decreased after Israel hit military targets near Yemen's Hodeidah port on July 20, killing six people and wounding more than 80, a day after a drone launched by the Houthis hit Israel's economic hub Tel Aviv.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou in Athens, Jaidaa Taha and Yomna Ehab in Cairo, and Ali Idrees in Washington, editing by Angus MacSwan)
