US Navy shoots down drone launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen

The US Navy shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group on Wednesday morning, a US defense official told Reuters on Wednesday. Later that day, the Houthis announced that they had fired a number of ballistic missiles at the southern Israeli city of Eilat. 

It is the sixth time the US Navy has fired upon drones in the southern Red Sea since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7 and comes amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Britain's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security company Ambrey reported an incident involving a suspected drone over the Red Sea west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

UKMTO warned vessels transiting the area to exercise caution.

There was no damage to US Navy vessels or injuries to US personnel in the attack, said the US official, who declined to be named.

Three commercial ships come under attack in southern Red Sea

The US military said on Sunday that three commercial vessels had come under attack in the southern Red Sea.

Yemen's Houthi group on Sunday claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area, saying in a broadcast that the attacks came in response to the demands of Yemenis and calls from Muslim countries to stand with the Palestinian people.