Houthi rebels launched a missile at a US warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden on Friday, resulting in the missile being shot down.
The Houthis launched a missile at the ship, which has already shot down several Houthi drones and missiles. The Carney became the first ship to shoot down Houthi weapons when it shot down several Houthi drones and rockets fired towards Israel with the SM-2.
The attack on the USS Carney marks a new phase of the conflict and is the first direct Houthi attack on a US warship since the rebels began attacking ships in October.
Central Command said Friday an anti-ship ballistic missile passed close to the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney, which has been engaged in US operations since November in an attempt to stop the Houthi campaign, adding that the missile “was successfully shot down.”
Until January 11, when the US and UK carried out the first set of coordinated strikes against Houthi targets, the Ministry of Defence was hesitant to say the Houthis were targeting US ships, but language gradually began to change after January 10, when several US ships and one UK ship shot down several Houthi drones and missiles. On 14 January, the Defence Ministry said the Houthis fired a missile at the USS Laboon (DDG-58), for the first time specifically stating that the target was a US ship.
Brad Bowman, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, notes that recognising Friday’s attack as a direct attack on a US warship has symbolic significance: “They’re now finally calling a spade a spade, and saying that, yeah, they’re trying to attack our forces, they’re trying to kill us,” he said.
The Houthi leadership said that after the 11 January strikes they would attack US and UK ships, implying both US-flagged and US-owned commercial vessels.
