This picture supplied by the U.S. Navy exhibits the USS Carney within the Mediterranean Sea on Oct. 23, 2018. The Carney and a number of other business ships got here underneath hearth within the Red Sea on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, the Pentagon stated.

Ryan U. Kledzik/AP file photograph

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Ryan U. Kledzik/AP file photograph

This picture supplied by the U.S. Navy exhibits the USS Carney within the Mediterranean Sea on Oct. 23, 2018. The Carney and a number of other business ships got here underneath hearth within the Red Sea on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, the Pentagon stated.

Ryan U. Kledzik/AP file photograph

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Commercial ships got here underneath assault Sunday by drones and missiles within the Red Sea and a U.S. warship there opened hearth in self-defense as a part of an hourslong assault claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officers stated.

The assault doubtlessly marked a significant escalation in a collection of maritime assaults within the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war as a number of vessels discovered themselves within the crosshairs of a single Houthi assault for the primary time within the battle.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Defense Department advised The Associated Press.

The Carney is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer that is already shot down a number of rockets the Houthis have fired towards Israel up to now within the conflict. It wasn’t broken within the assault and no accidents had been reported on board, stated a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate early particulars of a navy operation.

The Carney responded after listening to from the Bahamas-flagged bulk provider Unity Explorer that it was underneath assault by missile hearth, the official stated. The Carney shot down two drones in the course of the assault, one in self-defense and one other after checking on the Unity Explorer, the official stated.

Assessments had been nonetheless being made on the Unity Explorer.

The British navy earlier stated there had been a suspected drone assault and explosions within the Red Sea, with out elaborating.

The Defense Department didn’t establish the place it believed the hearth got here from. However, Houthi navy spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the assaults, saying the primary vessel was hit by a missile and the second by a drone whereas within the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that hyperlinks the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Saree didn’t point out any U.S. warship being concerned within the assault.

“The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea (and Gulf of Aden) until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops,” Saree stated. “The Yemeni armed forces renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement.”

Saree additionally recognized the primary vessel because the Unity Explorer, which is owned by a British agency that features Dan David Ungar, who lives in Israel, as one in all its officers. The second was a Panamanian-flagged container ship referred to as Number 9, which is linked to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement. Managers for the 2 vessels couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.

Israeli media recognized Ungar as being the son of Israeli transport billionaire Abraham “Rami” Ungar.

The Houthis have been launching a collection of assaults on vessels within the Red Sea, in addition to launching drones and missiles focusing on Israel amid the conflict.

Another U.S. official, talking on situation of anonymity to debate intelligence issues, stated the assault started about 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and had gone on for as a lot as 5 hours.

Global transport had more and more been focused because the Israel-Hamas conflict threatens to develop into a wider regional battle — at the same time as a truce briefly halted preventing and Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. However, the collapse of the truce and the resumption of punishing Israeli airstrikes and its floor offensive there had raised the chance of the seaborne assaults resuming.

Earlier in November, the Houthis seized a car transport ship additionally linked to Israel within the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels nonetheless maintain the vessel close to the port metropolis of Hodeida. Missiles additionally landed close to one other U.S. warship final week after it assisted a vessel linked to Israel that had briefly been seized by gunmen.

However, the Houthis had indirectly focused the Americans for a while, additional elevating the stakes within the rising maritime battle. In 2016, the U.S. launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroyed three coastal radar websites in Houthi-controlled territory to retaliate for missiles being fired at U.S. Navy ships on the time.