The U.S. Navy shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle and a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels in the southern sector of the Red Sea on Thursday, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Middle East announced today. (CENTCOM, “central command”).

“None of the 18 ships that were present in the area were damaged and no injuries were reported,” CENTCOM clarified via X (formerly Twitter). According to the same source, it was “the 22nd attempted attack by the Houthis against international shipping since October 19”.

Since the outbreak on October 7 of the Israel/Hamas war, the Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have stepped up their attacks in the Red Sea against ships they see as “linked to Israel” in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is besieged and bombed by the Israeli army.

Israel’s main ally, the US, they patrol this sea area of ​​strategic importance for global navigation along with other countries, within the limits of an international coalition to protect merchant ships from the Houthis, a movement close to Iran.

In recent weeks Houthi missiles and drones have been shot down by American, French and British warships.

Washington also announced yesterday a series of sanctions that target the financing of the Houthis, especially natural and legal persons in Yemen and Turkey who, according to the US government, are involved in this financing.

The administration of US President Joe Biden blames Iran how it actively helps Yemeni rebels launch attacks. The Islamic Republic denies this. Tehran also insists that it does not provide military support to the Houthis, a movement that is part of the so-called “axis of resistance”, along with the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.