A US Navy destroyer is attacked in the Red Sea, the Pentagon says

A US Navy destroyer was attacked in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said, which could signal a new escalation of tit-for-tat attacks between the US military and Iran-backed militants.

A Pentagon official said the USS Carney, along with several commercial ships nearby, came under fire for hours beginning around 10 a.m. Sunday. The destroyer intercepted at least one drone during the attack, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The official did not say where the attacks came from. But since Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia has launched a series of attacks – including with drones and missiles – on Israeli and US targets in the Red Sea.

A Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement on Sunday that the militia had attacked two Israeli ships in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait area off the coast of southern Yemen, but made no mention of the US Navy ship . The group fired a missile at one ship and targeted a second with a drone, he said, adding that the Houthis would continue to prevent Israeli ships from sailing in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea until the Israeli army “ends its aggression in Gaza stops’.

In October, the Carney shot down three cruise missiles and several drones launched from Yemen that the Pentagon said may have been headed to Israel.

After Hamas attacked Israel, the Biden administration rushed two aircraft carriers and additional troops to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel to deter Iran and its allies in the region from expanding the war.

Sunday’s attack underscored the risk that the fighting in Gaza could spiral into a broader conflict. For more than a month, Iranian-backed militias have been carrying out drone and missile attacks on the 2,500 US troops in Iraq and 900 troops in Syria.

Shuaib Almosawa reporting contributed.