A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land after a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on September 14 that its forces targeted three drones and a support vehicle of the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen a day earlier.
The systems presented “an imminent threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region,” the command said in a statement.
It added that its forces took action “to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels.”
The CENTCOM didn’t provide any details about the targeted drones, or clarify in which part of Yemen they were struck. Furthermore, Houthi-run media didn’t reports any strikes by the U.S. or its allies against Yemen on September 13 or 14.
The Houthis targeted over the last ten months dozens of vessels affiliated with Israel or owned by the U.S. and the United Kingdom In the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea in response to the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip. The group’s air defenses also shot down at least nine American-made combat drones over Yemen and nearby waters.
During the same period, the Houthis launched from Yemen more than 200 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones at Israel, mostly toward the Red Sea port city of Eilat in the south, according to the Israeli military.
The U.S. and the UK have carried out hundreds of strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen since January. Israel also launched an attack against the Red Sea port of al-Hodeidah last month after a deadly Houthi drone strike on the city of Tel Aviv.
The strikes inflicted some losses on the Houthis and even claimed the lives of many civilians. Still, they failed to deter the group.
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