Red Sea (South24)

US Central Command announced on Tuesday that it had thwarted a new round of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, making it the second incident since the formation of the US-led international coalition on 18 December.

In a post on their official X account, U.S. Central Command announced that assets from its Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group - the USS Laboon destroyer and F/A-18 Super Horney fighter jets - had shot down twelve one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles. 

According to the statement, the various projectiles “were fired by the Houthis over a 10-hour period which began at approximately 6:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) on December 26”.

The statement added, "There was no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries."

Yesterday, the military spokesman for the Houthis, Brigadier General Yahya Sarea, announced that they had targeted the commercial ship MSC United VIII in the Red Sea using "appropriate naval missiles.” He also announced that they had carried out “a military operation with a number of drones against military targets” in the Israeli area of Eilat on the Red Sea.

Navigational information from ship tracking platform VesselFinder, reviewed by South24 Center, confirmed that the MSC United VIII, whose name was mentioned in the Houthi statement, had been passing off the coast of the western Hodeidah governorate in the Red Sea before it was attacked.

On 23 December, US Central Command released a statement reporting that the Houthis had fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into international shipping lanes, though no ships were impacted.

The statement also detailed reports of two Houthi drone attacks against two commercial ships in the southern Red Sea - the Norwegian-owned and operated chemical/oil tanker M/V BLAAMANEN, and the Gabon-owned and Indian-flagged crude oil tanker M/V SAIBABA.

The USS Laboon also “shot down four [inbound] unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen”, while patrolling in the Red Sea, according to the statement.

On 24 December, the Houthis said that an American destroyer had opened fire on their reconnaissance drone.

In a post on X, the official spokesman for the Houthis, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said: “While a reconnaissance plane belonging to the Yemeni naval forces was carrying out reconnaissance work across the Red Sea, an American warship opened fire in a hysterical manner [..] as one of the missiles exploded near a ship heading south of the Red Sea belonging to the Republic of Gabon".

فيما كانت طائرة استطلاع تابعة للقوات البحرية اليمنية تقوم بعمل استطلاعي عرض البحر الأحمر قامت بارجة أمريكية بإطلاق النار بطريقة هيستيرية وبأسلحة متعددة تظهر حالة الإرباك والقلق حيث انفجر أحد الصواريخ بالقرب من سفينة متجهة جنوب البحر الأحمر تابعة لجمهورية الغابون وهي آتية من…

— محمد عبدالسلام (@abdusalamsalah) December 24, 2023

Abdul Salam stated that the Red Sea would be “a burning arena if America and its allies continue in their way of bullying.”