US Downs Drone Launched from Houthi-Controlled Area

The US Central Command stated early Thursday that the United States shot down a drone that had launched from an area controlled by the Houthis while responding to a distress call from a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the southern Red Sea on Wednesday. The Central Command added in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the US Navy's USS Mason destroyed the drone after the Houthi movement attacked the commercial vessel Ardmore Encounter with boats. It continued that two missiles were fired from areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen but did not hit the ship, which was able to continue its course without further incidents. The Central Command indicated that there were no reports of injuries or damage to the ship or its crew. This incident is the latest in a series of attacks by the Houthi group, based in northern Yemen, targeting vessels they claim are owned by Israel or headed there. The group, which controls the capital Sana'a, disrupts the passage of such ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.