Yemen’s Houthis say they fired missile at US warship

Military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement that the Iran-backed group’s naval forces targeted the USS Lewis B Puller, an expeditionary mobile base platform ship deployed in the region to support the US 5th Fleet.

The operation was part of “military measures in defence of Yemen, reaffirmation of the decision to support the oppressed Palestinian people”, he added.

There was no immediate comment from the US military.

The Houthis have carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks on merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since mid-November in response to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The US said in January it would re-designate the Houthis as “global terrorists”.

On Friday, the destroyer USS Carney shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden, according to the US military’s Central Command.

And on Saturday, the British destroyer HMS Diamond shot down a drone targeting it in the Red Sea, the UK ministry of defence said.