The Navy destroyer Gravely shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen toward the Red Sea on Tuesday night, according to U.S. Central Command.
No injuries or damage were reported, CENTCOM said in a brief statement.
On Jan. 30, at approximately 11:30 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired one anti-ship cruise missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea. The missile was shot down by USS Gravely (DDG 107). There were no injuries or damage reported. pic.twitter.com/Wf1OhwPhhW
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 31, 2024
The intercept comes just days after a drone attack on Tower 22, a U.S. outpost in Jordan, killed three soldiers and injured dozens more.
Navy warships have shot down dozens of attack drones and missiles in the Middle East since October.
Gravely’s intercept also came on the same day that the Iran-backed militant group Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement directing its fighters to halt attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
The statement from the group, first reported by Reuters, came within hours of President Joe Biden telling reporters Tuesday that he had decided on a response to Sunday’s fatal drone attack, one the Pentagon said “has the footprints” of a Kataib Hezbollah operation.
There have been more than 160 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October, when the Israel-Hamas war began.
