A pair of U.S. warships intercepted a salvo of missiles and explosive drones launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Nov. 11, the Pentagon has confirmed.
The Houthis—a Zaydi Shiite faction listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. government—claimed to have launched attacks targeting the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea and two other U.S. warships operating in the Red Sea.
“The vessels were not damaged, no personnel were hurt,” Ryder added.
The Pentagon spokesman said he was not aware of any attacks targeting the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Ryder reported the Houthi attacks on the U.S. warships occurred after aircraft assigned to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) struck multiple suspected Houthi weapons storage facilities across Yemen on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10.
“These facilities housed a variety of advanced conventional weapons used by the Iran-backed Houthis to target U.S. and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” Ryder said.
The U.S. airstrikes involved both U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft, including Navy F-35C stealth fighter jets.
The Houthis have maintained a campaign of attacks along Middle Eastern sea lanes for more than a year, targeting commercial shipping vessels and warships alike. The Houthis have claimed their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and will not stop until Israel ceases its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon targeting Hamas and Hezbollah, two more U.S. and internationally-designated terrorist organizations.
Since last year, the Houthis have damaged dozens of commercial ships and sunk two, the Belize-flagged bulk carrier MV Rubymar, and the Liberia-flagged and Greece-owned bulk carrier MV Tutor. The Houthis also hijacked the Bahamas-flagged vehicle carrier MV Galaxy Leader in November 2023 and took its crew of 25 as hostages.
“We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that there will be consequences for their illegal and reckless attacks,” Ryder said Tuesday.
The U.S. military has rotated three carrier strike groups (CSGs) through the Middle East over the past year: the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CSG, then the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and most recently the USS Abraham Lincoln CSG.
The U.S. government has gone back and forth over whether to consider the Houthis a terrorist organization.
President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration labeled the Houthis as both a specially designated terrorist group (SDGT) and a foreign terrorist group (FTO). The original Trump administration applied those labels during the final days of his first term in office.
President Joe Biden’s administration reversed the Trump-era terror designations against the Houthis within his first few days in office, but reapplied the SDGT label in January, as the Houthi attacks on international shipping grew. The Biden administration had suggested it could undo the SDGT designation if the Houthis ceased their attacks throughout the region.
It remains to be seen how a second Trump administration will address the Houthis going forward.
The Houthis originally formed in opposition to the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The Yemeni internal conflict has subsided with a peace process that began in the spring of 2022. The Houthis continue to retain control over large swathes of territory on Yemen’s western coastline, including the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a, which they’ve controlled since 2014.
