The US Navy destroyer USS Hudner shot down several attack drones over the Red Sea Thursday morning from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to US Central Command.
“There was no damage or injury to the ship or crew,” the command statement said.
Just a week earlier, Navy officials announced that the same ship shot down another drone from Yemen that was heading in the ship’s direction.
MORE: US Navy shoots down drone heading for warship off Yemen, officials say
The Pentagon later assessed that the US ship itself was not the target, although the drone had come close enough to be a concern, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. According to US officials, the attacking drone was likely headed for Israel.
At the time, Singh alleged that Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen were responsible for that attempted attack, but he did not explicitly confirm this.
“We are still evaluating the allegation, but I have no reason to doubt that it may have come from the Houthis,” he said last Thursday.
The US military has not yet said who is believed to have shot down a drone barrage in the most recent unilateral strike over the Red Sea.
However, the US blamed the Houthis for an attack against an American drone earlier this month, saying the militants shot down the unmanned aircraft while flying in international airspace off the coast of Yemen on November 8.
