U.S. Navy warships shot down a barrage of Houthi terrorist cruise missiles and drones launched Friday from Yemen at the shipping lanes of the Red Sea.
The Pentagon confirmed the attack and the successful response on Friday.
“We did see a complex attack launched from the Houthis that ranged from cruise missiles and [unmanned aerial vehicles],” said Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the Defense Department.
Stars and Stripes reports the Iran-backed Houthi claimed to have damaged three U.S. Navy warships in a concentrated bombardment of 23 missiles and bomber drones.
The destroyers, the Houthis’ military spokesperson claimed in a televised speech, were targeted as they transited the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea.
He said the attack was carried out as the U.S. destroyers were “on their way to support the Israeli enemy.”
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The Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen.
“My understanding is that those were either engaged and shot down or failed,” Singh said, referring to the Houthi missiles and drones. No U.S. military ships were struck, and there were no injuries to U.S. service members, she also said as she dismissed the claims outright.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group are in the region.
The strike group includes three destroyers: USS Spruance, USS Stockdale, and USS O’Kane.
Singh on Friday declined to say whether the destroyers were the intended targets of the Houthi missiles.
“We did what we had to do to protect our forces, and at the end of the day, no ship was hit — no damage and no injuries to our personnel,” she said.
The Houthis have been targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Oct. 7 last year when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.
Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a multinational mission, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to counter Houthi attacks.
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