A U.S. Navy destroyer on Sunday night was the target of a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, a defense official said.
The USS Mason was in international waters in the southern end of the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen when it detected two inbound missiles over about an hour-long period beginning at 7 p.m. local time, the official said. Both missiles hit the water and did not cause any injuries to sailors or damage to the ship.
The Pentagon assessed that the missiles came from the area of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, a Shiite-led group fighting the central government in the country.
Mason used “onboard defensive measures” during the first missile attack, but the official said it is unclear if that caused the missile to miss the ship or if it would have hit the water regardless.
The official declined to give details about how far the missiles landed from the ship or how far the destroyer was from the coast, citing both operational security and an investigation into the incident.
Jacqueline Klimas contributed to this report.
