US shoots down Houthi drones above Red Sea

US forces, including the USS Carney, engaged six Houthi drones in the Red Sea Saturday morning, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement early Sunday. 

Five crashed into the Red Sea, and the other flew inland toward Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, CENTCOM said. 

The statement, posted to X, added that the drones “presented an imminent threat to US, coalition, and merchant vessels in the region.” 

MARCH 23 RED SEA UPDATEFrom 2:50 to 4:30 a.m. (Sanaa time)March 23, the Iranian-backed Houthis launched four anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) into the Red Sea in the vicinity of M/V Huang Pu, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated oil tanker.At 4:25 p.m.… pic.twitter.com/n1RwYdW87E

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 24, 2024

The engagement was one of three separate incidents of Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea on Saturday morning, CENTCOM reported.

In the first incident, which occurred from 2:50 to 4:30 am Sana’a time, according to CENTCOM, Houthis launched four anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Red Sea in the vicinity of M/V Huang Pu, an oil tanker that is Chinese-owned but Panamanian flag.

A fifth ballistic missile fired at M/V Huang was detected at 4:25, but the ship’s distress call did not lead to assistance in time. 

A fire broke out on board, which was extinguished within 30 minutes, and the ship “suffered minimal damage,” according to CENTCOM. 

No casualties were reported, and the vessel continued on its course.

Houthi attacks have led to deaths, economic damage

The Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen have been launching attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 opened a war between Israel and the terrorist group governing Gaza. 

On March 7, the attacks claimed their first fatalities, when a missile strike hit a Barbados-flagged cargo ship, killing three sailors, two of whom were Filipino, and the other Vietnamese.

The attacks have damaged at least 15 ships, and sunk one, a UK-owned cargo vessel. 

They have also hurt the economy of Egypt, which relies heavily on revenue from passage through the Suez Canal, as well as the local economy of Eilat, the port city at the southernmost point of Israel, which has been virtually cut off from international shipping routes as merchants reroute cargo around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, a longer and more costly route.

In response, the US and Britain have redesignated the Houthis as a terrorist group, and a defensive coalition led by the two nations has deployed to the Red Sea to protect merchant ships. The countries have also led offensive strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, another Iranian proxy, has also been attacking Israel since the war in Gaza broke out, and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have directly engaged US forces.