The USS Carney, a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the northern Red Sea, on Thursday shot down multiple missiles and drones fired by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen that may have been aimed at targets in Israel, according to the Pentagon.
It is the first time in recent memory that a US Navy ship in the Middle East has attacked missiles and drones that are not aimed directly at the ship.
It is also the first U.S. military action to defend Israel in the current crisis, and as the U.S. and other countries seek to contain the conflict between Israel and Hamas, there is certainly the possibility that an Iran-backed proxy group could launch rockets and drones Israel’s firing has increased growing regional tensions.
The ship was in the northern Red Sea on Thursday evening local time when it intercepted three land-attack cruise missiles and several drones, Pentagon brigade spokesman said. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news conference. U.S. officials told ABC News that the Carney shot down eight drones launched by the Houthis.
The USS Carney is pictured August 11, 2020. Business Wire/AP, FILE
According to several U.S. officials, the U.S. preliminary assessment was that the USS Carney was not the target of any of the Houthi missiles or drones.
“We cannot say with certainty what these missiles and drones were aimed at, but they were fired from Yemen north along the Red Sea, possibly toward targets in Israel,” Ryder said, adding that information about the fighting was still being processed would.
It is unclear where the Houthi militia’s rockets were fired from, but they were aimed north, an official said.
The Pentagon said Thursday the USS Carney shot down missiles fired from Yemen that may have been headed toward Israel. ABC News / US Department of Defense
The Houthis are an Iran-backed Shiite movement that has seized control of much of northern Yemen and has been at war with them in recent years, while Yemen has been at war with a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 .
As part of that conflict, the Houthis have fired missiles and drones deep into Saudi Arabia, but it appears that the missiles intercepted on Thursday were not aimed at targets inside Saudi Arabia.
Last week, Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi was quoted as saying that if the US intervened directly in the Gaza conflict, his group would respond by firing drones and missiles and pursue other military options.
“There are red lines when it comes to Gaza,” he said.
Yemen’s Houthi group held a military parade in Sanaa, Yemen, on September 21, 2023, to commemorate the 9th anniversary of their takeover of the capital.Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Thursday’s incident occurred in the early evening hours (local time) when the missiles and drones were detected moving north over the Red Sea.
The missiles fired by the Houthis were attacked by SM2 missiles aboard the USS Carney, a US official told ABC News. No information has been released about which weapons platform aboard the Carney brought down the eight drones.
Brig. General Ryder told reporters that the interceptions took place over water, not land. No sailors aboard the ship were injured, according to a U.S. official.
The United States has increased its military presence in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly two weeks ago.
The USS Carney is part of the carrier strike group USS Gerald R. Ford, which was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran and Hezbollah from joining the war between Israel and Hamas. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently extended the deployment of the Ford Fighter Group to allow it to remain in the eastern Mediterranean and ordered additional fighter jets to be stationed at U.S. air bases in the region.
To increase U.S. deterrence against an expansion of the conflict, the Ford will soon join the strike group of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the eastern Mediterranean, which left Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday and in the next seven to ten could arrive in the region within a few days.
“By positioning these U.S. naval formations and advanced combat aircraft in the region, we aim to send a strong message aimed at deterring a major conflict, strengthening regional stability and, of course, making it clear that we will protect and defend our national security interests .” Ryder told reporters on Thursday.
Men chant slogans while holding up Kalashikov assault rifles during a tribal meeting in the Houthi rebel-held capital Sanaa, Yemen, September 21, 2019.Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images
The USS Carney had just entered the Red Sea through the Suez Canal on Wednesday, so the destroyer was still in the northern section of the water, which borders Egypt, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
The missile fired from the USS Carney will strengthen deterrence in the region and show that the show of force is a serious matter, a senior US official told ABC News.
The risk to U.S. forces and U.S. interests in the region has increased particularly after a deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza earlier this week that heightened regional tensions.
On Wednesday, three drones were shot down by US forces as they approached bases in western and northern Iraq, and another drone was shot down on Thursday near US forces in eastern Syria.
A US contractor sheltering at one of the bases in Iraq died of cardiac arrest in one of the incidents.
Al Asad air base in western Iraq came under indirect fire on Thursday, according to a US official.
Carney’s firing of the Houthi missiles raises the possibility that the U.S. Navy may need to deploy more ships to the Red Sea if the U.S. commits to protecting Israel from an attack from the south, ABC contributor Steve Ganyard said News and former Pentagon official.
“The bigger concern is whether Iran now views U.S. ships as fair game,” Ganyard said. “Because if the Houthis were to fire on a US ship, there is little doubt that it would have been on Tehran’s orders.”
“However, there is no evidence and no known reason to believe that Iran wants a fight with the United States and/or Israel,” Ganyard said. “So, hopefully things calm down.”
ABC News’ Martha Raddatz contributed to this report.