US intercepts explosive drones launched from Yemen in the Red Sea

“O USS Thomas Hudner fired and destroyed numerous attack drones launched from the Huthi-controlled region of Yemen,” Centcom said on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

“The drones were shot down while the warship was patrolling the Red Sea. The ship and crew suffered no damage or injuries,” he added.

The Huthis announced, at the end of October, that they would carry out attacks against Israel until it ended its offensive against Gaza, to defend “the right of the Palestinian people to self-defense”.

Yemeni rebels claimed on Wednesday that they fired a cruise missile at southern Israel and that it was intercepted by Israeli aviation, said the spokesman for the Iranian-backed armed group.

“Our forces launched missiles against several military targets of the Israeli entity,” wrote the spokesman for the Huthis’ armed wing, Yahia Saree, in X.

“We will continue to carry out military operations until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank ends,” he added.

The Israeli Army claimed on Wednesday to have intercepted a cruise missile that was advancing towards the south of the country.

A combat aircraft “successfully intercepted a cruise missile fired at Israel” following reports of an intrusion into airspace near the city of Eilat, an army statement said, adding that “there was no infiltration into Israeli territory.”

The war between Hamas and Israel, triggered by the attack by the Palestinian Islamic movement on Israeli soil on October 7, raises fears of a regional escalation, in particular involving the so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes groups supported by Iran including, in addition to Hamas, the Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Huthis.

On Sunday, the Huthis claimed to have seized a commercial ship, the Galaxy Leader, owned by an Israeli businessman, in the Red Sea, in retaliation for the military onslaught against the Gaza Strip.

On November 9, the Israeli military said that its latest hypersonic ballistic missile interceptor, the Arrow 3 system, had destroyed for the first time a target heading towards Israel from the Red Sea.

On October 20, a US Navy ship in the Red Sea shot down missiles and drones fired by Huthi rebels, possibly at Israel, according to the Pentagon.

The war between Israel and Hamas has so far left more than 14,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, and more than 33,000 injured, according to the most recent report from local authorities, and 1.7 million displaced, according to the UN.

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