Centcom denies Yemen Houthis claim of attack on US warship UPDATED

The US Central Command (Centcom) has refuted the Houthis' claim that the US warship was downed.

Centcom said on its page on social network X that none of the three missiles fired hit the target, Caliber.Az reports. 

Houthis Attack Commercial Shipping Vessel with Anti-Ship Missiles

On Jan. 24 at approximately 2 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the U.S.-flagged, owned, and operated… pic.twitter.com/nlAJgVDgDU

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 24, 2024

"One missile impacted in the sea. The two other missiles were successfully engaged and shot down by the USS Gravely (DDG 107). There were no reported injuries or damage to the ship," the message reads.

10:09

Yemen’s Houthi group said on the evening of January 24 that it hit an American warship and forced two American commercial vessels to retreat after clashes with its forces in the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandab Strait.

“In solidarity with the Palestinian people and in response to the American-British aggression on our country, clashes occurred with a number of American destroyers and warships in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandab Strait,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised statement, Anadolu reports.

He said the clashes occurred while the ships were providing protection for two American commercial vessels and lasted for more than two hours.

Saree confirmed that Houthi missiles scored a direct hit on an American warship, forcing the two commercial vessels to “retreat from entering the Red Sea.”

He pointed out that "a number of ballistic missiles of the group reached their targets, despite attempts to intercept them by warships, and the armed forces (loyal to the Houthis) used several ballistic missiles in the engagement.”

He added that the group’s armed forces will “continue to prevent Israeli navigation or ships heading to the occupied Palestinian ports in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the cessation of aggression (by Israel) and lifting of the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

Saree also emphasized that they are “taking all necessary military measures within the legitimate right of defending our country, people and nation, targeting all American and British hostile targets in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.”