Houthis launch missile, drone attacks on US warships off Yemen’s coast

The Iran-backed group launched drones and fired missiles at two US warships in an hours-long attack, the Pentagon confirms.

US warships came under sustained missile and drone attack from Houthi fighters as they sailed off the coast of Yemen, the Pentagon has confirmed, with the armed group claiming it attacked the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and two US destroyers.

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said on Tuesday that the  United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) forces “successfully repelled multiple Iranian backed Houthi attacks during a transit of the Bab al-Mandeb strait”, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Ryder told reporters at a news conference that two US-guided missile destroyers – the USS Stockdale and USS Spruance – were attacked by at least eight one-way attack drones, five antiship ballistic missiles and three antiship cruise missiles.

All the Houthi drones and missiles “were successfully engaged and defeated”, and neither of the US Navy ships were damaged or personnel hurt, he said.

Ryder added that he was not aware of any attacks against the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier and US Air Force the B-52H Stratofortress conduct joint exercises in the Arabian Sea in 2019 [File: Handout/US Navy via AP]

Earlier on Tuesday, Houthi fighters announced that they had carried out two “specific military operations” against the US Navy in an assault lasting eight hours.

“The first operation targeted the American aircraft carrier (Abraham) located in the Arabian Sea with a number of cruise missiles and drones,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement.

“The other operation targeted two American destroyers in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles and drones,” he said, adding that the operation had “successfully achieved its objectives”.

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The Houthis, who control large areas of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, have been carrying out attacks on Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023, in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians.

The armed group, however, has also been accused of attacking commercial ships with no obvious connection to Israel or its war on Gaza.

The Houthis have targeted more than 90 vessels with missiles and drones, killing four sailors and sinking two ships. The crew of one vessel – the Galaxy Leader, a British-owned and Japanese-operated carrier, hijacked last November – remain detained in Yemen.

The Yemeni group has demanded that Israel end its war on Gaza as a condition for stopping the attacks, which have severely disrupted trade in one of the world’s busiest maritime routes.

Explosions take place on the deck of the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea on August 29, 2024 [Handout/Houthi Military Media via Reuters]

The US, with support from the United Kingdom, has carried out repeated strikes on targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in response to the Red Sea shipping attacks.

On Sunday, the US and UK launched air strikes on Sanaa and the northern Amran governorate, with the Pentagon saying it had targeted Houthi advanced weapons storage facilities.

The attacks came just weeks after intensive US raids on Houthi targets in which B-2 strategic bombers participated for the first time, carrying out strikes against five underground weapons storage locations.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies