US Destroyer Attacked Again From Houthi Territory in Yemen

In a second incident in four days, a US Navy destroyer was targeted in a failed missile attack from Iran-aligned Houthi rebel territory in Yemen on Wednesday, the US military said.

The Pentagon said the USS Mason fired defensive salvos in retaliation to at least one missile. The missile did not hit the ship as it sailed north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait. There are signs that the second salvo brought down an incoming missile, one US official who requested anonymity said.

The latest stab at targeting the US Navy warship will add pressure on the US military to hit back. If that happens, that would signify the first direct US military action against Houthis in Yemen’s conflict. The Pentagon said it would respond in at the proper and in the proper manner.

Retaliation for Funeral Strike

The United States supplies US weapons to Saudi Arabia and provided aerial refueling to a Saudi-led coalition attacking Yemen. Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Michael Knights said the missile attacks seemed to be the Houthis response to a strike on funeral-goers assembled in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa last weekend. The attack was broadly blamed on Saudi-led forces.

The US government says it is evaluating its support for Saudi-led forces in Yemen following Saturday’s strike. The attack killed more than 140 people.

Knight said the targeting of US warship indicated the Houthis could come to be more militarily affiliated with groups like Lebanon’s Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah.

The USS Mason was also the target of a botched missile strike off Yemen on Sunday.

Along with an October 1 attack on a vessel for the United Arab Emirates, the missile incidents raise uncertainties about safety of passage for military ships across the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Houthis denied any connection in the previous attempt to strike the USS Mason. But US officials said there are mounting indications that Houthi rebels were to blame for Sunday’s incident.

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Growing Evidence Points to Houthi Role in Attack On US Destroyer

Despite denials of accountability in Sunday’s missile attack on a Navy Destroyer off the Yemen coast, United States officials said that there are increasing signs that Iran-allied Houthi rebels are responsible.

The US officials are not allowed to speak publicly due to the ongoing investigation. They said that the rebels seemed to use small skiffs as spotters. These tiny vessels help lead a missile attack on the USS Mason.

The US is also investigating the likelihood that a Houthi radar station in Yemen may have also “painted” the warship.

The incident threatens to provoke the first US military action against Houti’s in Yemen’s conflict. However, neither of the two missiles launched from Houthi-controlled territory on Sunday hit the USS Mason.

Possible retaliatory strike

The Houthis have publicly denied any part in the strike. But details of Sunday’s incident that are coming out would provide added support to the Pentagon’s contentions that the facts point to Houthi involvement. The US military even implied on Tuesday at possible arrangements for a retaliatory strike.

The Pentagon declared, anybody who takes action against US Navy vessels in international waters do so at their own peril.

The US military has acknowledged that only the first of the two missiles came close enough to activate the USS Mason’s defenses. But it is still unclear if those defenses were needed to prevent a direct hit or whether they caused the missile to splash down early. It was also not known whether the missile would have fallen short anyway.

The second missile was fired an hour later. The USS Mason did not consider it necessary to use its defenses since the missile was far enough away from the warship.

The Houthis had previously avoided targeting US military ships.

The Zaydi fighters drove the Saudi Arabia-supported Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi from the capital in 2014. They are allied to Hadi’s predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh and have the support of several army units. They control most of North Yemen including its capital, Sanaa.

The conflict in Yemen killed more than 10,000 people so far. It also brought parts of the country to the verge of starvation.

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