The Pentagon did not identify where it believed the fire came from. However, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been launching a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, as well as launching drones and missiles targeting Israel as it wages war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Yemen’s Houthi movement said its navy had attacked two Israeli ships, Unity Explorer and Number 9, with an armed drone and a naval missile.
A spokesman for the group’s military said the two ships were targeted after they rejected warnings, without elaborating.
Yemen Houthis seize ship in Red Sea with link to Israeli company
Yemen Houthis seize ship in Red Sea with link to Israeli company
In a statement broadcast on Sunday the spokesman said the attacks were in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and calls from Islamic nations to stand with the Palestinian people.
An Israeli military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Global shipping had increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Gaza war threatens to become a wider regional conflict – even as a truce briefly halted fighting and Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. However, the collapse of the truce and the resumption of punishing Israeli air strikes and its ground offensive there had raised the risk of the seaborne attacks resuming.
Earlier in November, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship also linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels still hold the vessel near the port city of Hodeida. Missiles also landed near another US warship last week after it helped a vessel linked to Israel that had briefly been seized by gunmen.
However, the Houthis had not directly targeted the Americans for some time, further raising the stakes in the growing maritime conflict. In 2016, the US launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory to retaliate for missiles being fired at US Navy ships at the time.
The Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Unity Explorer is owned by Unity Explorer Ltd and managed by London-based Dao Shipping Ltd, LSEG data showed. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Singapore on December 15.
Number 9, which was headed to Suez port, is a Panama-flagged container ship owned by Number 9 Shipping Ltd and managed by Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the data showed.
Both owners and managers of the two vessels could not be immediately reached for comment.
ABC News, citing a US official, said the USS Carney had been involved in multiple engagements involving Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.
“In at least two circumstances, the Carney successfully shot down (drones) headed in its direction,” the official told ABC.
Helicopter-borne Houthi attack on ship raises risks in Red Sea
Helicopter-borne Houthi attack on ship raises risks in Red Sea
British maritime security company Ambrey and sources said earlier that a bulk carrier and a container ship had been hit by at least two drones while sailing in the Red Sea.
Ambrey said the container ship had reportedly suffered damage from a drone attack about 63 miles northwest of the northern Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said it had received reports of a drone attack in the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandab strait.
Last week a US Navy warship responded to a distress call from an Israeli-managed commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden after it had been seized by armed individuals.
Additional reporting by Reuters