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U.S. Navy vessels dispatched to protect international shipping sank three small boats, killing the occupants, and downed two anti-ship missiles fired by Iran-allied Houthis forces in Yemen in the Red Sea, the U.S. Central Command announced Sunday.
Two destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Laboon, were responding to a distress call Saturday from the container ship Maersk Hangzhou, which reported a missile hitting it.
While coming to the commercial ship’s aid, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship missiles that U.S. commanders said had been fired from Houthi-controlled territory in nearby Yemen.
Hours later, the Denmark-owned container ship issued a second distress call, saying it was under attack from gunmen in four small boats. The Gravely and the USS Eisenhower responded to the second incident, as a security team on the commercial boat was exchanging fire with the attackers.
After verbal warnings failed to stop the gunmen, “the U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats and killing the crews,” CENTCOM officials said in a statement on social media.
“The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment,” the statement said.
Maersk officials said later the crew of the Maersk Hangzhou was safe and the ship was continuing its voyage north to Port Suez, but that it was also instituting a 48-hour pause on new transits through the waterway.
The turmoil in the Red Sea came as Israel’s offensive against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip ground on, nearing the three-month mark since Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage killed more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals.
Palestinian health officials told The Associated Press that at least 35 people were killed by Israeli strikes across central Gaza on Sunday.
Israel’s campaign has resulted, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, in more than 21,000 deaths in the densely populated enclave as the Jewish state vows to eradicate Hamas’ power base and destroy its ability to launch future attacks.
Despite mounting global concern over the death toll in the fighting to date, including pressure from the Biden administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no sign over the weekend he was prepared to back off as long as Hamas retains an effective fighting force.
He told a news conference Saturday that the war would continue for “many more months” and that Israel would assume control of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. Some 172 Israeli troops have been killed in the operation, and Hamas militants still hold more than 100 hostages captured Oct. 7.
The Yemeni clashes have emerged as perhaps the major secondary front in the war.
U.S. officials say there have been nearly two dozen attacks by Houthi rebels on international shipping in the critical Red Sea waterway in recent weeks.
The Houthis, who have a close diplomatic and military relationship with Iran, have said they are targeting Israeli and Israel-linked ships in the transit route in solidarity with Palestinians battling Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Other Iran-allied forces in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon also have staged attacks on Israeli and U.S. targets in the region, sparking fears the Gaza fighting could lead to a broader Middle East war.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen’s coast connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and then the Suez Canal, providing a key link between markets in Asia and Europe.
A number of major international shipping lines have canceled or suspended transits through the area in response to the repeated attacks.
The Pentagon has spearheaded the multinational Operation Prosperity Garden to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea, but a U.S. naval commander over the weekend said there was no sign yet the Houthis had stopped their “reckless” attacks.
Fifth Fleet commander Vice Adm. Brad Cooper told the AP that commercial traffic has begun to pick up in recent days despite the attacks, with more countries signing on to the protection mission.
The admiral said there are now five warships from the U.S., Britain and France patrolling the area and ships participating in the mission. The joint mission set up less than two weeks ago had shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles before the weekend’s clashes.
“Commerce is definitely flowing,” Vice Adm. Cooper told the wire service.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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