Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out six operations, targeting a US aircraft carrier, a US destroyer and three merchant ships in the waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, their military affairs spokesman Yahya Shari said on Saturday.

According to Mr Shari, the group “targeted the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower with missiles and drones”, for the “second time” in the “last 24 hours”, while also attempting to attack a US destroyer in the Red Sea.

Also, three merchant ships, the Abliani, Maina and Aloraiq, were targeted, respectively the first two in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea and the third in the Indian Ocean.

The day before Friday, the Houthis announced that they would escalate their attacks against ships moving off the coast of Yemen, following new US and British airstrikes against their positions, in which 16 people were killed, according to them.

Since mid-November, the Iranian-backed Yemeni Shiite militia Ansar Allah (“Supporters of God”), better known by the family name of its leaders, the Houthis, has launched dozens of missile and drone attacks on commercial and then warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, stressing that it is acting in “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, against the backdrop of the devastating war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that broke out on October 7.

The US, Israel’s main international ally, in December formed an international force to protect navigation in this strategically important maritime area. A naval force was also deployed earlier this year by the EU.

Since January, the US armed forces, acting in many cases in cooperation with those of Britain, have been hitting Houthi positions and facilities in Yemen.

The Houthi action has forced many shipping companies to reroute their ships, now sending them around Africa, making sea transport much more expensive and time-consuming.