Middle East
US destroyer downs drone, missile in Red Sea in latest attempted attack by Houthi rebels
Stars and Stripes
December 29, 2023
The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason, shown here in July 2021, shot down a drone and a ballistic missile in the Red Sea on Dec. 28. (Bill Mesta/U.S. Military Sealift Command)
A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on Thursday, according to U.S. Central Command.
The USS Mason was in the southern Red Sea around 5:45 p.m. Thursday when it shot down the missile and drone, which marked the 22nd attempted attack by Houthi rebels against international shipping since Oct. 19, Central Command said in a Friday post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
The attack also came just two days after U.S. fighter jets and the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon, part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, fended off a dozen drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land attack cruise missiles over the course of 10 hours on Tuesday in the Red Sea.