The American army announced that it had shot down on Saturday March 16 a drone launched by Yemeni Houthi rebels towards the Red Sea and several other devices in Yemen.
Two drones were launched on Saturday morning by the Houthis towards the Red Sea, a strategic maritime route for global trade, the US Middle East Command (Centcom) announced on the social network X.
American forces
“destroyed one drone”
, the other having probably crashed at sea, indicates Centcom, specifying that no damage or injuries have been reported among the ships cruising in the area.
On Friday, the American army announced that it had destroyed nine anti-ship ballistic missiles and two Houthi drones after shots by Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden caused
“no damage”
.
"Self-defense"
Saturday evening, the American army, in a state of
“self-defense”
, also
“destroyed five naval drones”
and a drone in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi rebels, adds Centcom.
Since November, the Houthis have increased attacks against merchant and sometimes military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, pushing many shipowners to avoid these essential passages for international trade.
These insurgents who control large swaths of Yemen and are supported by Iran say they carry out their attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas after the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on 7 October on Israeli soil.
Israel's first ally, Washington set up a multinational coalition in December to
“protect”
maritime traffic without succeeding in stopping the attacks.