A US destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday while responding to a distress call from a container ship that had been hit in another attack, the US military said.
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US Central Command (Centcom) said on social media that the missiles were fired from an area controlled by Houthi rebels near Iran.
According to Central Command, the destroyers USS Gravely and USS Laboon responded to a request for assistance from the Singapore-flagged Danish container ship Maersk Hangzhou, which reported being hit by a missile in the Red Sea.
US Central Command added that during this relief operation, the US ship USS Gravely shot down missiles that were launched “toward US military ships.”
Since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen, have intensified their attacks in the Red Sea against ships they consider “linked to Israel,” in solidarity with the Palestinian territories. Bombed and surrounded.
The United States, Israel's first ally, patrols this strategic region of the world with other countries, as part of an international coalition to protect maritime traffic from Houthi attacks.
