The US military and its allies shot down at least 28 drones in the Red Sea fired by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen early Saturday, according to the Pentagon.
The drones were launched during a four-hour period, from around 4 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. local time, according to US Central Command on social media.
According to CENTCOM, there were no reports of commercial or naval vessels being damaged during the assault.
U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps shared a video on social media early Saturday showing the British cruiser HMS Richmond employing missiles to shoot down two Houthi drones.
“The UK and our allies will continue to take the action necessary to save lives and protect freedom of navigation,” Shapps said in a statement.
Since November, Houthi rebels, who control wide parts of Yemen, have conducted hundreds of strikes on ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the militant group Hamas in its war against Israel. The attacks have caused considerable disruptions in international shipping lines.
According to defense officials, a Houthi strike on the Liberian-owned commercial ship True Confidence on Wednesday killed at least three crew members, making it the first fatality from a Houthi attack since November.
And this weekend, a British-owned ship that was hit by a Houthi missile in February sank in the Red Sea, becoming the first vessel destroyed by the Houthis since they began their operations. The ship’s sinking is also thought to have severed three undersea telecommunication cables.
In response, the United States and United Kingdom, with the help of coalition forces, have launched four rounds of airstrikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen since mid-January.
The Biden administration declared the Houthis a “specially designated global terrorist group” earlier this year, reversing a previous decision by the US State Department to withdraw that status in February 2021.
