US-led coalition shoots down 15 Yemen rebel drones: CENTCOM
Iran-backed Yemeni rebels into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the US military said.
Shortly afterwards, the rebels claimed the attack, saying they had fired missiles at an «American» commercial ship and launched drones at US warships in «the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden».
It was one of the Huthis' largest attacks since they began in November a campaign of drone and missile strikes against vessels in the Red Sea area, vital for world trade, in professed solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's war against Iran-backed Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the «large-scale» Huthi attack occurred before dawn into the Red Sea and adjacent Gulf of Aden.
CENTCOM and coalition forces determined that the drones «presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, US Navy and coalition ships in the region».
It added, in a post on social media platform X, that «US Navy vessels and aircraft along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft shot down 15» of the drones.
«These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure.»
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, also on X, said the rebels had carried out two separate operations.
The first targeted the commercial vessel Propel Fortune in the Gulf of Aden, he said, calling it an «American» ship.
Vessel tracking websites describe the bulk carrier as Singapore-flagged but did not report its current position.
A second operation fired «37 drones» at «a number of
