Missiles fired at US ship from Yemen

The US Navy destroyer USS Mason was fired again in international waters off the coast of Yemen, north of the Bab El-Mandeb strait, early yesterday. The ship successfully intercepted the missile.

It was the third time US ships have been targeted off the coast of Yemen within that week.

“The Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defence cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen,” Navy Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told reporters.

Pentagon spokesman Commander Gary Ross said US ships launched countermeasures to defend against the attack. “Earlier today, a US Strike Group transiting international waters in the Red Sea detected possible inbound missile threats and deployed appropriate defensive countermeasures,” he said.

No one was harmed as a result of the attack.

Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Shia Houthi fighters allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes.