(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hudner shot down several attack drones over the Red Sea that were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen early Thursday morning local time, according to U.S. Central Command.
“The ship and crew sustained no damage or injury,” a statement from the command read.
Just one week earlier, Navy officials announced the same ship shot down another drone originating in Yemen that was heading in the direction of the ship.
The Pentagon later assessed the American ship itself was not the target, though the drone got close enough to be of concern, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. The attack drone was likely on its way to Israel, according to U.S. officials.
At the time, Singh implied that Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen were responsible for that attempted attack, but did not give an outright confirmation.
“We’re still doing an assessment of the attribution, but I would have no reason to doubt that it would have come from the Houthis,” she said last Thursday.
The U.S. military has not yet said who is believed to have launched the most recent one-way attack drone barrage shot down over the Red Sea.
The U.S. did, however, blame the Houthis for an act of aggression against an American drone earlier this month, saying the militants shot the unmanned aircraft down as it flew in international airspace off the coast of Yemen on Nov. 8.
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