The guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner shot down a drone launched from Yemen over the Red Sea early Wednesday, according to U.S. defense officials.
Unlike the accident Last month When a US destroyer shot down several drones and missiles launched toward Israel, the drone was headed toward the USS Thomas Hudner.
Reuters was the first to report that the warship shot down the drone.
David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty Images
It is not yet clear who was responsible for launching the drone, but earlier this week, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen threatened to attack ships in the Red Sea.
The incident comes after the Houthis shot down a plane An American MQ-9 Reaper drone last week Over the Red Sea.
The United States has not launched efforts to recover the drone worth about $30 million, and although the Houthis have made an effort to salvage it, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said it was unlikely they would be able to “recover anything of significance.”
The USS Thomas Hudner incident and the downing of the MQ-9 threaten to expand the scope of the war between Israel and Hamas that the United States is trying to contain.
Elsewhere, the United States has already launched three rounds of retaliatory strikes on Iranian-backed groups in Syria in response to nearly 60 attacks on US forces stationed in Iraq and Syria in the past month.
When asked earlier this week whether the Pentagon would respond militarily to the downing of the MQ-9, Singh said she had no announcement, but that “we always reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing.”
“Internet practitioner. Social media maven. Certified zombieaholic. Lifelong communicator.”