U.S. Navy Repels Houthi Attack On Three Merchant Ships in Red Sea

By Costas Paris

U.S. Navy destroyers Sunday repelled a Houthi missile attack on three American-flagged merchant ships in the Red Sea, the latest strike by the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, the U.S. Central Command said.

Destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O'Kane successfully repelled three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and an anti-ship cruise missile fired on a tanker, a bulk carrier and a boxship, the U.S. Central Command said. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sare'e said the rebel group fired 16 missiles at vessels it described as linked to the U.S. military.

The targeted ships were the tanker Stena Impeccable, owned by Sweden's Stena Bulk; the Maersk Saratoga boxship, owned by Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk; and the Liberty Grace, the owner of which wasn't listed. The ships didn't report damage.

The Houthis began attacking ships in the Red Sea last year in protest against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The strikes have forced hundreds of ships sailing from Asia to Europe to deviate from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal and sail instead around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, adding two extra weeks of travel time.

Write to Costas Paris at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-02-24 1238ET