Nearly a week after Yemen-based Houthis fired balletic missiles at a U.S. naval ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Iran-backed Islamic terrorist group carried out drone and missile attacks on another U.S. warship in the Red Sea.
Houthi, a pro-Iranian jihadi group that President Joe Biden removed from the list of designated terrorist groups in 2021, admitted targeting the USS Carney and two other cargo ships.
Houthis claimed that the targeted commercial ships were Israeli cargo vessels. European media reports suggest that one of the ships was British-owned. “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,” Reuters reported. “In a broadcast statement the spokesperson said the attacks were in response to the demands of the Yemeni people and calls from Islamic nations to stand with the Palestinian people.”
According to the UK’s Daily Telegraph on Sunday evening, a “UK-owned ship passing through the Red Sea has reportedly been hit by rocket fire, a UK-based maritime security group.”
The Associated Press reported:
Commercial ships came under attack Sunday by drones and missiles in the Red Sea and a U.S. warship there opened fire in self-defense as part of an hourslong assault claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said.The attack potentially marked a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war as multiple vessels found themselves in the crosshairs of a single Houthi assault for the first time in the conflict.“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Defense Department told The Associated Press.The Carney is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that’s already shot down multiple rockets the Houthis have fired toward Israel so far in the war. It wasn’t damaged in the attack and no injuries were reported on board, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss early details of a military operation.The Carney responded after hearing from the Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Unity Explorer that it was under attack by missile fire, the official said. The Carney shot down two drones during the attack, one in self-defense and another after checking on the Unity Explorer, the official said.
The attack on the U.S. warship comes two weeks after Houthis declared all Israeli ships in international waters were ‘legitimate targets’ as part of the jihad waged by Iran-backed terrorist groups against Israel. “The Houthis have said they are acting as part of the ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel, which includes Iran-backed terror groups in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq,” the Times of Israel noted. These are not mere threats. On October 19, Houthis seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship and in following weeks threatened several others.
Recent news reports suggest that the Biden White House is considering re-designating Houthis as a terrorist group, reversing a move taken amid a desperate bid to restore the Obama-Kerry nuclear deal. The Yemeni terrorist group, formally know as Ansar Allah, proclaims its true intentions in its official slogan: “Allah is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory for Islam.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY