United States shoots down drones & missiles from Yemen

A US navy warship in the northern Red Sea on Thursday shot down three

cruise missiles

and several drones launched from Yemen that the Pentagon said might have been headed toward Israel. "We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel," Brig Gen Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said.

The missiles and drones were launched by pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen amid a flurry of drone attacks against American troops in Iraq and Syria over the past three days, General Ryder said. The incidents underscored the risks that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas could spiral into a wider war. Military analysts were trying to determine who carried out the drone attacks, General Ryder said, but Iran-backed militias have in the past conducted drone and rocket attacks against the 2,500 US troops based in Iraq and the 900 troops in Syria.
Since Hamas's terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, the Biden administration has rushed two aircraft carriers and additional troops to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel to deter Iran and its proxies in the region from engaging in a regional war. Senior Biden administration officials and American commanders have expressed fears that the US could get dragged into the conflict if the militias attacked US forces in Iraq and Syria.

General Ryder sought to stay on that theme on Thursday despite what he acknowledged was "an uptick" in drone attacks in Iraq and Syria in the past few days. "Right now, this conflict is contained between Israel and Hamas, and we're going to do everything we can to ensure deterrence in the region, so that this does not become a broader" conflict, General Ryder said. He said that any armed American response to this week's attacks, "should one occur, will come at a time and a manner of our choosing."