Ruters,16 Oct. 2016 reported:
A U.S. Navy destroyer was targeted on Saturday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, the third such incident in the past week, U.S. officials said.
Multiple surface-to-surface missiles were fired at the USS Mason sailing in international waters in the Red Sea but the warship used on-board countermeasures to defend itself and was not hit, one defense official said, citing initial information.
The latest attack could provoke further retaliation by the U.S. military, which launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in response to the two previous failed missile firings against the Mason.
“The Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen,” Admiral John Richardson, U.S. chief of naval operations, said during a ship christening in Baltimore on Saturday.
Another U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: “We are assessing the situation. All of our ships and crews are safe and unharmed.”
Thursday’s U.S. counter-strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, marked Washington’s first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen’s conflict and raised questions about the potential for further escalation.
Fox News, 16 Oct. 2016 reported:
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen may have launched missiles at U.S. Navy ships for the third time this week, defense officials said Saturday.
Initially, a U.S. defense official said multiple missiles were fired at three ships patrolling international waters at around 3:30 p.m. ET. U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson appeared to confirm that assesment, telling reporters the vessels seemed “to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defense cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen.”
The official added that all U.S. warships and vessels in the area were safe and that “post-event assessment is ongoing,” but declined to give further details.
A guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87), seen on August 3, 2016
Two guided-missile destroyers, the USS Mason and USS Nitze, as well as the amphibious transport ship USS Ponce were patrolling north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, when the incident occurred.
The USS Mason launched countermeasures, according to one official, likely using SM-2 surface-to-air missiles to engage the possible Houthi cruise missiles.
The incident occurred two days after President Obama authorized a Tomahawk cruise missile strike against three Houthi radar facilities in Yemen in retaliation for two missile attacks against the US Navy ships earlier in the week.
A U.S. official told the Associated Press that additional radars could have been used in Saturday’s reported attack.
The American cruise missile strike from USS Nitze, which U.S. officials said destroyed the radar installations, marked the first direct US involvement in Yemen’s two-year civil war.
The United States has supported a Saudi Arabia-led coalition against the Houthis over the past year with intelligence, weapons and mid-air refueling aircraft.
The first Houthi missile attack against the U.S. Navy ships occurred Sunday, shortly after a coaltion jet bombed a funeral party, killing 140 people and wounding hundreds more.
Earlier this month, a Houthi missile from Yemen destroyed a United Arab Emirates-flagged auxiliary vessel that had once been owned by an American company.