An American destroyer on a mission in the Red Sea (Getty-Archive)

The military spokesman for the Ansar Allah group (Houthis), Yahya Saree, announced on Wednesday that the group fired missiles at the American destroyer USS Greeley in the Red Sea, hours after the US army announced that it had shot down a Houthi missile in the region.

The spokesman said - in a statement broadcast on the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV - that the group plans to continue targeting American and British warships in the Red Sea in self-defense.

The US Central Command announced earlier that its destroyer shot down an anti-ship missile launched by the Houthis from areas under their control in Yemen towards the Red Sea yesterday evening, without the attack resulting in material or human losses.

Naval force

These developments come as European Union Foreign Policy Commissioner Josep Borrell announced that there are efforts to start the work of the European force to maintain security in the Red Sea on February 17.

Borrell stressed that the force's mission will be to protect ships only, and will not be part of attacks against the Houthis.

China has called on all parties to exercise restraint and stop the escalation in the Red Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that his country does not want to see an escalation in the situation, saying, "The Red Sea is an important international trade channel, and we do not want to see an escalation of tension. We call on all parties to exercise restraint, stop harassing civilian ships, and respect Yemen's sovereignty."

The spokesman also called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, stressing that "ending the war in Gaza as soon as possible would ease the situation in the Red Sea. The situation in the Middle East is very complex and sensitive, and the tension in the Red Sea is an extension of the conflict in Gaza."

The Minister of Defense in the Ansar Allah Houthi government, Muhammad Nasser Al-Atfi, confirmed yesterday that the Yemeni people will not be deterred by America’s missiles or internationally banned bombs from carrying out their religious and moral duties towards the Palestinian people, as he put it.

During a meeting with the commanders of the Houthi forces’ naval and coastal defense forces, Al-Atefi warned the United States and Britain against seeking to militarize the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

Intelligence support

On the other hand, CBS quoted Commander of the US Fifth Fleet, Brad Cooper, as saying that Iran provides the Houthis with equipment and intelligence information to target the US army.

Cooper told the “Sixty Minutes” program anchor, during her exclusive visit to a secret operations center in the US Navy, that no one had ever used anti-ship ballistic missiles against commercial ships, let alone used them against US Navy ships.

He pointed out that this makes the current conflict very unique, warning that hitting commercial ships with Houthi missiles and drones would cause enormous damage.

The American military official explained that Houthi missiles take 75 seconds to hit the target at sea, from the moment they are launched from areas under the group’s control, and that American forces only have between 9 seconds and 15 seconds to make a decision to shoot down a missile or drone.

It is noteworthy that the Houthis have been targeting Israeli ships or those heading to Israeli ports in the Red Sea since mid-November, until the Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip is stopped and aid is brought in.

Tensions in the Red Sea have entered a stage of escalation since the Houthis directly targeted an American ship on January 9.

In response to the attack on the ships, American and British warplanes have launched raids on Houthi military sites in various parts of Yemen since January 12.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies