A US Navy ship in the Red Sea shot down missiles and drones on Thursday, the Pentagon said.
Washington:
A US Navy ship in the Red Sea on Thursday shot down missiles and drones fired by Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, possibly at Israel, the Pentagon said.
Three “land-attack cruise missiles and several drones” were intercepted by a destroyer, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters. The attack was “launched by Huthi forces in Yemen”, possibly targeting targets in Israel, he added.
The ship, the USS Carney, was patrolling the Red Sea as part of a heavily reinforced US military presence ordered by President Joe Biden to maintain stability in the wake of the war between Israel and the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.
Ryder said missiles have been fired from Yemen, where Iran-backed Huthi rebels are at war with a government backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
He said there were no American casualties and that the intercepted missiles likely fell in open water and not over land.
“We cannot say for sure where these missiles were aimed, but they were launched from Yemen, heading north along the Red Sea.”
“Our defensive response was one we would have taken in the face of a similar threat in the region,” he said.
“We have the ability to defend our broader interests in the region and to deter regional escalation and broader expansion of the conflict that began with Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians.”
Biden has ordered more air and naval assets — including sending two aircraft carriers — to the Middle East to protect against the war between Israel and Hamas spreading in the tinderbox region.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon also ordered to keep 2,000 troops ready for possible deployment.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the deployment would allow the United States to “react more quickly” to the crisis, while the White House stressed it had no plans to deploy U.S. combat troops to the ground.
American media reported that the troops being prepared for deployment would perform support tasks, such as medical assistance and handling explosives.
Biden flew to Israel this week in a dramatic show of U.S. support and was expected to speak from the White House later Thursday in a speech urging Congress to fund military aid for Israel and another embattled U.S. ally: Ukraine.
Asked by journalists late Wednesday about reports that his administration had told Israel that American forces would fight alongside Israeli forces in response to an attack on Israel by the powerful Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Biden said this was “not true.”
However, he said that “our military is talking to their military about what the alternatives are” in the event of a Hezbollah attack.
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