The U.S. military has carried out new attacks on ten drones and ground control centers belonging to Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement that on Thursday, U.S. forces targeted “Houthi drone ground control stations and ten Houthi unidirectional drones,” targeting commercial ships and U.S. Navy ships in the area.
“This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels,” the statement added.
All U.S. and British warships involved in an “aggression” into Yemen have been targeted, the agency said on Wednesday, fueling fears of escalating tensions in the region and increasing disruption to world trade.
Central Command said earlier that the USS Kani shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis, and less than an hour later shot down three Iranian drones. It did not specify whether they were surveillance drones or attack drones.
The Houthis said on Wednesday that their naval forces struck a “U.S. merchant ship” in the Gulf of Aden hours after firing missiles at the USS Graveley.
While the United States and Iran have avoided direct confrontation, the United States has recently launched strikes against the Houthis and other Iran-linked groups in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Central Command said the military destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile that posed a threat to “U.S. aircraft,” a marked departure from past airstrikes that have focused on the group’s ability to influence global shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous region, began targeting Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in November in what they said was a move of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and support for Hamas.
U.S. and British forces responded to the attack by attacking the Houthis, who subsequently declared U.S. and British interests as legitimate targets.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps to discuss the situation in the Red Sea and “international efforts to hold the Houthis accountable for unlawful and reckless attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the State Department said on Wednesday.
The United States has established a multinational naval task force to help protect Red Sea shipping from repeated Houthi attacks on the busy waterway, which carries 12% of global trade.
The EU also plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
Washington has also sought to exert diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis. In January this year, the United States reclassified the organization as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”