Dubai:

New explosions were reported near Yemen on Thursday after the United States struck 10 attack drones and a ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overnight.

Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations Agency reported that the explosion occurred near a ship west of the port city of Hodeidah.

There were no reports of damage to the ship or injuries to the crew.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which came after months of Houthi rebels harassing Red Sea shipping, prompting retaliatory attacks from the United States and Britain.

An abbreviated statement from U.S. Central Command said the U.S. military struck “a Houthi drone ground control station and 10 Houthi unidirectional drones” in Yemen early Thursday, “inflicting heavy damage on the region. “Commercial ships and U.S. Navy ships pose an imminent threat” to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

Central Command earlier announced that the USS Karni aircraft carrier had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile launched by the Houthis into the Gulf of Aden, less than an hour after three Iranian drones were shot down.

It did not specify whether the drone downed by the destroyer was used for attack or surveillance.

Maritime security firm Ambre said a commercial ship was reportedly hit by a missile attack southwest of Aden, where the Houthis claimed a missile attack on a U.S. ship they said was heading toward Israel.

Ambre did not name the ship or mention its ownership, but Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree called the ship “KOI.”

The U.S. military also destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile on Wednesday that Central Command said posed an imminent threat to “U.S. aircraft” — a departure from past raids that were aimed at and weakening the rebels’ ability to threaten international shipping.

It did not disclose the type of aircraft that was threatened or the location of the attack, saying only that the attack occurred in “areas controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.”

– Continuous attack –

While Washington and Tehran have sought to avoid direct confrontation despite recent U.S. strikes against the Houthis and other Iran-backed groups in the region, the downing of three Iranian drones could escalate tensions.

The Houthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they attacked Israel-linked ships in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been ravaged by Israel’s war with Hamas.

U.S. and British troops launched strikes against the Houthis, who later declared U.S. and British interests also legitimate targets.

Some U.S. strikes have focused on missiles that Central Command said pose an imminent threat to ships, suggesting robust surveillance of Houthi-controlled territory that may include military aircraft.

The United States has also established a multinational naval task force to help protect Red Sea shipping from repeated Houthi attacks on the transit route, which carries 12% of global trade.

In addition to military action, Washington has sought to apply diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, re-designating them as a “terrorist” group in January after dropping that label shortly after President Joe Biden took office.

On Wednesday, the Houthis said they fired missiles at the USS Graveley, after Central Command said the warship shot down an “anti-ship cruise missile launched into the Red Sea from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.”

Israel’s destructive campaign in Gaza, which began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, has fueled growing anger across the Middle East, triggering violence by Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)