The United States Navy shot down drones and missiles fired by the terrorist group Houthis.
“We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel,” said Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder.
The missiles and drones were detected by the destroyer ship USS Carney.
Ryder added that the action was a “demonstration of the integrated air and missile defense architecture that we have built in the Middle East and that we are prepared to utilize whenever necessary to protect our partners and our interests.”
The Houthis are aligned with Tehran, according to the New York Post.
During the Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo considered the Houthis a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
“These designations will provide additional tools to confront terrorist activity and terrorism by Ansarallah, a deadly Iran-backed militia group in the Gulf region,” Pompeo said at the time, using the alternative name for Houthis.
Upon becoming president, Joe Biden reversed the terrorist designation.
