America Is Under Attack; Houthis Fire Missiles at U.S. Destroyer, No Injuries Reported; Ballistic Missiles Fired at US Warship Amid Rescue Operation

By admin On Nov 27, 2023

America Is Under Attack:

The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87), one of the many American naval assets tasked with maintaining free navigation of maritime shipping routes, came under attack over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Mason received a distress call from a tanker with links to an Israeli-owned company. The Houthi Islamist militia group in control of much of Yemen had previously warned Israeli-linked vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden that they would come under attack, and the tanker’s distress signal suggested that this was no idle threat. The Mason found an ongoing attempt to hijack the ship, disrupted the attack, and captured the attackers as they made their way back to Yemeni shores. Within hours of this intervention, two ballistic missiles were fired from within Houthi-controlled Yemen “toward the general direction” of the Mason.

“U.S. officials would not say who was responsible for the attack and if the five-person group was acting under the orders of a state or group,” the New York Times reported. Nevertheless, “officials said that they are investigating whether Iran was involved.” We should expect a speedy conclusion to the administration’s investigation. Since the October 7 massacre, American assets and interests in the region have come under sustained attack by Iran-backed elements. The attempted attack on the Mason is almost certainly a part of that campaign.

This missile attack was preceded by a strike that took down a $30 million U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone operating off the coast of Yemen in early November and the interception of several Israel-bound ballistic missiles by another U.S. missile destroyer in the Red Sea in late October. Both attacks were attributed to the Houthis, an organization that is armed and supported by the Iranian regime.

Meanwhile, American forces in Iraq and Syria have experienced a sustained tempo of attacks from Iran-backed Shiite militia groups and terrorist organizations for weeks with no letup in sight. While Americans back home were celebrating Thanksgiving, U.S. service personnel at Iraq’s al-Assad and Erbil airbases experienced four separate attacks. These attacks mark the 73rd occasion in which Iranian proxy forces targeted U.S. troops in the region since the October 7 massacre. Dozens of American soldiers have been injured in these attacks. —>READ MORE HERE

Houthis Fire Missiles at U.S. Destroyer, No Injuries Reported:

Following the apprehension of the pirates who boarded an Israeli-linked cargo ship earlier on Sunday, the USS Mason (DDG 87) was fired upon by Houthi rebels, reports Jennifer Griffin for Fox News. The Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles, both of which fell short of their intended target . . . just another couple of splashes in a waterway that has seen its share of missiles and pirates.

USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, tracked the ballistic missiles as they approached but both missiles fell short splashing into the Gulf of Aden. This is viewed as significant escalation in Houthi threats to U.S. Navy vessels, according to multiple well placed sources.

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) November 27, 2023

Given the Biden administration’s unwillingness to protect servicemen (see Afghanistan and the multivarious attacks currently suffered by U.S. forces abroad) through shows of force, one cannot expect that the Houthis who fired these missiles are in any great danger. Please prove me wrong, Biden. Remarkably, the USS Mason survived a similar attack in 2016.

USNI News reported:

During the attack against USS Mason (DDG-87), the ship’s crew fired the missiles to defend the guided-missile destroyer and nearby USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) from two suspected cruise missiles fired from the Yemini shore, two defense officials told USNI News.

Mason launched two Standard Missile-2s (SM-2s) and a single Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) to intercept the two missiles that were launched about 7 P.M. local time. In addition to the missiles, the ship used its Nulka anti-ship missile decoy, the sources confirmed. Mason was operating in international waters north of the strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the time of the attack