In the early hours of Thursday morning local time, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hudner successfully intercepted and shot down multiple attack drones over the Red Sea. These drones were launched from areas in Yemen controlled by the Houthi rebel group, as reported by U.S. Central Command. Fortunately, there were no damages or injuries sustained by the ship or its crew during the incident.
This marks the second time in a week that the USS Hudner has thwarted an incoming drone from Yemen. The previous incident involved the ship intercepting and neutralizing a drone headed in its direction.
Following the interception of the attack drones over the Red Sea by the USS Hudner, the Pentagon conducted an assessment and determined that the American ship was not the intended target. Despite this, the proximity of the drone raised concerns. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh informed reporters that the attack drone was likely en route to Israel, according to U.S. officials.
While Sabrina Singh implied that Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen were likely responsible for the attempted attack, she did not provide an explicit confirmation at the time.
“We’re still doing an assessment of the attribution, but I would have no reason to doubt that it would have come from the Houthis,” she said last Thursday. In the early hours
The U.S. military has not yet said who is believed to have launched the most recent one-way attack drone barrage shot down over the Red Sea.
The U.S. did, however, blame the Houthis for an act of aggression against an American drone earlier this month, saying the militants shot the unmanned aircraft down as it flew in international airspace off the coast of Yemen on Nov. 8.