US warship targeted for third time in failed missile attack from Yemen

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US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Mason. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:55am, 16 Oct 2016Updated: 7:35pm, 16 Oct 2016

A US Navy destroyer was targeted on Saturday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, the third such incident in the past week, US officials said.

Multiple surface-to-surface missiles were fired at the USS Mason sailing in international waters in the Red Sea but the warship used on-board countermeasures to defend itself and was not hit, one defence official said, citing initial information.

The latest attack could provoke further retaliation by the US military, which launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in response to the two previous failed missile firings against the Mason.

The Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defence cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen

US Navy Admiral John Richardson

“The Mason once again appears to have come under attack in the Red Sea, again from coastal defence cruise missiles fired from the coast of Yemen,” Admiral John Richardson, US chief of naval operations, said during a ship christening in Baltimore on Saturday.

Another US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We are assessing the situation. All of our ships and crews are safe and unharmed.”

Thursday’s US counterstrikes, authorised by President Barack Obama, marked Washington’s first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen’s conflict and raised questions about the potential for further escalation.