US Navy Downs Another Drone in Red Sea

DUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group on Wednesday morning, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Wednesday.

It is the sixth time the U.S. Navy has fired upon drones in the southern Red Sea since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 and comes amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security company Ambrey reported an incident involving a suspected drone over the Red Sea west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

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UKMTO warned vessels transiting the area to exercise caution.

There was no damage to U.S. Navy vessels or injuries to U.S. personnel in the attack, said the U.S. official, who declined to be named.

The U.S. military said on Sunday that three commercial vessels had come under attack in the southern Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthi group on Sunday claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area, saying in a broadcast that the attacks came in response to the demands of Yemenis and calls from Muslim countries to stand with the Palestinian people.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir, Aziz El Yaakoubi, Andrew Mills and Jonathan Saul; Writing by Andrew Mills; Editing by Alex Richardson and Christina Fincher)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.

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