The US said it carried out six strikes in self-defence against Houthi targets on Monday afternoon and evening, hours after the rebel group warned it would escalate attacks during Ramadan in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
US Central Command (Centcom) said it destroyed an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles belonging to the Houthis. However, on Tuesday Houthi attacks continued and drones were shot down by an Italian warship in the Red Sea.
Centcom said in a statement that “these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US navy ships in the region”, and added the strikes were carried out to “protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer”.
Earlier reports that Britain was involved in carrying out the airstrikes on Monday were incorrect, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. RAF planes have attacked Houthi targets on previous occasions with the US, but not this time, it added.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which has been fighting a civil war against the Houthis, told Reuters that US airstrikes hit port cities and small towns in western Yemen, killing at least 11 and injuring 14.
However, no casualties were confirmed by the Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sare’e, in a statement released at 3.30am local time (0030 GMT) overnight, which emphasised the group would keep fighting despite repeated US-led attacks since January.
Sare’e said the group “will escalate” its military operations during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as part of its campaign targeting merchant and warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that began in October.
Italy’s military said on Tuesday morning that its Caio Duilio destroyer shot down two drones in what was described as an act of self-defence. The warship is part of an EU maritime protection mission in the region.
On Monday, the Houthis said a merchant ship, Pinocchio, was targeted in the Red Sea with missiles, describing it as American. Sare’e claimed the hit was accurate but this was denied by the US.
In its statement, Centcom said the missiles “did not impact the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported”. Two missiles were fired at the Pinocchio on Monday morning, Centcom added, which it described as “a Singaporean-owned, Liberian-flagged ship”.
Public databases operated by Equasis and the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said the Pinocchio was a Liberian-flagged container ship owned by a Singapore-registered company.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to reroute to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, while stoking fears that the Israel-Gaza war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.
Despite reprisals from the US, supported at times by the UK, the Houthis have continued with their campaign of attacks on commercial vessels in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
On Saturday, Centcom said US and coalition warships had “downed a total of at least 28” drones between 4am and 8.20am, in what appeared to be a large attempted attack by the Houthis. That afternoon, Britain said its destroyer HMS Richmond had shot down two drones using Sea Ceptor missiles.
The Houthis killed three crew of the Barbados-flagged, Greek-operated True Confidence on Wednesday in an attack off the port of Aden, the first civilian fatalities since its Red Sea attacks began. That came days after first vessel was lost when the cargo ship Rubymar sank about two weeks after being hit by a Houthi missile on 18 February.
The MoD said it would redeploy the advanced warship HMS Diamond to the Red Sea area to replace Richmond. Diamond operated in the region in December and January but was rotated out for a period of rest and resupply.