Yemeni Army, Popular Forces Reject Reports on Targeting US Warship in Red Sea

The Yemeni army’s rejection comes as a Pentagon spokesman claimed yesterday that two missiles fired from Ansarullah-controlled areas targeted the USS Mason warship off the coast of Yemen on Sunday but missed the vessel and hit the water instead.

“The Yemeni naval forces have had no role in targeting the US warship in the coastal waters of Yemen’s Hudayda province,” the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel quoted a Yemeni army source as saying on Monday.

The source reiterated that the reports alleging that the Yemeni missiles targeted ships off the Yemeni coast are baseless.

He said such allegations are aimed at covering up Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes on a funeral procession in Sana’a which resulted in the death and injury of hundreds of civilians.

The US claimed that Yemeni troops have targeted one of its warships on Sunday.

“The missiles were fired at the USS Mason from Houthi-controlled territory in war-torn Yemen,” US Army Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the guided-missile destroyer deployed “onboard defensive measures” and was undamaged.

He claimed that the US warship was in international waters more than 12 nautical miles (22 km) offshore, in the Southern end of the Red Sea, North of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

“The missiles were launched within 60 minutes of each other,” Captain Davis said.

The allegation by Pentagon comes just few days after the Yemeni army and popular forces destroyed a UAE warship near Bab al-Mandab in Yemen’s coastal waters.

On Saturday, Yemen’s army and popular forces targeted and destroyed an Emirati warship in the waters near Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The UAE warship was targeted with Yemeni missiles in the Al-Mukha coastal waters in the province of Ta’iz. Some reports said the warship did not belong to the UAE army and had been rented from the US for the Yemen war.

Military sources in Sana’a confirmed on Sunday that nearly two dozen Emirati military men have been killed in the Saturday missile attack by the Yemeni army and popular forces on a UAE warship in the waters near Bab al-Mandab.

“At least 22 Emirati troops were killed after the Yemeni missiles hit a UAE warship in al-Mukha coastal waters in Ta’iz province,” a military source said.