US Navy intercepts cruise missiles fired from Yemen

A US Navy destroyer in the Red Sea shot down missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the Pentagon said.

The USS Carney intercepted three cruise missiles and around eight drones, Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder said, The Telegraph reports.

The vessel fired its own SM2 missiles in response.

Washington’s initial assessment suggests the USS Carney was not the intended target. No sailors aboard the destroyer were harmed.

It is unclear precisely where the Houthi missiles were fired from, officials said, but they were heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel.

The interceptions came as military bases hosting US forces in Iraq and Syria endured a spate of drone attacks over the past two days.

American forces encountered three drones in western and northern Iraq amid rising regional tensions over the hundreds killed by an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City.

Two drones targeted the al Asad airbase in western Iraq, which is used by US forces, and one drone targeted a base in northern Iraq, a US official said.

US forces intercepted all three, destroying two but only damaging the third, which led to minor injuries among coalition forces at the western base, US Central Command said.

“In this moment of heightened alert, we are vigilantly monitoring the situation in Iraq and the region,” a Central Command spokesman said.

The attack on the al Asad air base was the third on US troops in less than 24 hours.

There were a further two separate drone strikes in Syria on 19th of October .

Two drones attacked US personnel at the al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, according to officials. One drone was shot down, but another caused minor injuries.

The garrison is located at a sensitive juncture often used by Iranian-backed militants to ferry weapons to Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanon-based ally of Hamas.

Syrian opposition activists also said on Thursday that a drone attack was conducted on an oil facility in eastern Syria that houses American troops.

Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet, said three drones with explosives struck the Conoco field in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said five explosions were heard at the Conoco gas field.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, later claimed responsibility and said it “heralds more operations” against the “American occupation.”

It followed a threat last week from groups aligned with Iran that US interests would be targeted if Washington intervened to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

The US has around 2,500 troops in Iraq supporting and training the country’s forces, and another 900 in Syria working with the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Joe Biden has bolstered America’s military presence in the Middle East both to show the country’s commitment to Israel and to serve as a deterrent to Iran and Hezbollah.

The US has moved two aircraft carriers into the area in a major show of force amid fears of a wider regional conflict.