Yemen’s Houthi rebels fire missile at US warship

YEMEN’S HOUTHI rebels launched a missile on Friday at a United States (US) warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, forcing it to shoot down the projectile, and struck a British vessel as their aggressive attacks on maritime traffic continue.

The attack on the US warship, the destroyer USS Carney, marked a further escalation in the biggest confrontation at sea the US Navy has seen in the Middle East in decades, as Houthi missile fire set another commercial vessel ablaze on Friday night.

The Carney attack represents the first time the Houthis directly targetted a US warship since the rebels began their assaults on shipping in October, a US official said on condition of anonymity because no authorisation had been given to discuss the incident.

That contradicted a statement by the US military’s Central Command, which said the Houthis fired “toward” the Carney. As it has in previous strikes, the Pentagon said it was difficult to determine what exactly the Houthis were trying to hit.

Acknowledging Friday’s assault as a direct attack on a US warship is important, said Brad Bowman, a senior director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“They’re now finally calling a spade a spade, and saying that, yeah, they’re trying to attack our forces, they’re trying to kill us,” he said.

Tempering the language and response, while aimed at preventing a wider war, has had the opposite effect of further emboldening the Houthis, he said.

Later on Friday, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations, which oversees Mideast waterways, acknowledged a vessel had been struck by a missile and was on fire in the Gulf of Aden.