Houthis claim to have hit a US container ship in the Red Sea as America carries out a new strike on rebel drones in Yemen and downs several Iranian drones

Houthi rebels last night claimed to have hit another US commercial vessel in a fresh missile strike in the Red Sea, as US forces launched strikes on drones and ground control posts in Yemen.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen Yahya Saree claimed the US was unable to prevent one of his missiles from hitting the Koi, a Liberian-flagged naval vessel.

Saree declared the strike ‘a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people and a response to the US-British aggression against our country’.

It comes days after the Marlin Luanda, an oil tanker from the same company, was set on fire by a Houthi rebel missile over the weekend.

Shocking images showed an inferno raging on the tanker’s deck, which took hours to extinguish.

Meanwhile, US forces carried out strikes in Yemen early this morning against 10 attack drones and a ground control station controlled by Houthi rebels, the US military said.

Early Thursday local time, U.S. forces targeted a “Houthi UAV ground control station and 10 Houthi one-way UAVs” that “posed an imminent threat to merchant shipping and U.S. Navy ships in the region,” the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a Statement.

It came hours after its USS Carney warship also shot down an anti-ship missile fired by the Houthis and shot down three Iranian drones – a move which could increase tensions between the US and Iran, which have so far tried to avoid a direct conflict in the region.

The private security firm Ambrey reported on Wednesday evening that a ship was indeed targeted by a missile near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, although it did not provide its name.

Koi’s executives could not immediately be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether the reported missile strike caused any damage or injuries.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

But they have often targeted vessels with weak or no clear links to Israel, endangering shipping on a key route for global trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

In return, US and British forces launched several rounds of airstrikes targeting the Houthis, while allied warships patrol the waterways affected by the attacks.

In addition to military action, Washington has sought to put diplomatic and economic pressure on the Houthis, redesignating them as a terrorist organization earlier in January after previously dropping that label shortly after President Joe Biden took office.

But the Houthis have since declared US and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

Now it seems that the conflict in the region is increasing, with tHe is reportedly ready to send a £3.5 billion aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Red Sea this week after the Iran-backed Houthis vowed to disrupt shipping ‘in the long term’.

The Mail has learned that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin urged politicians to deploy an aircraft carrier to the region when the crisis began in October. But the chief of the defense staff was overruled when ministers opted to send Cyprus-based RAF Typhoons on 3,000-mile tours.

Now British troops in the region are said to be on high alert in case of Iranian counter-attacks, as Washington prepares to respond to the killing of three American soldiers by Tehran-backed militants.

The United States on Wednesday attributed the drone strike that killed three American service members in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias.

Iran threatened to ‘react decisively’ to any attack on the Islamic Republic after the US said it held Tehran responsible.

The United States has signaled it is preparing for retaliatory strikes in the Middle East in the wake of Sunday’s drone strike that also injured more than 40 troops at Tower 22, a secretive base in northeastern Jordan that has been crucial to the American presence in neighboring Syria.

As of Wednesday, Iran-aligned militias had launched 166 attacks on US military installations since October 18.

These include 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and the one in Jordan, according to the US military.

The US has struck back against the militias a few times over the past three months.

But any further US strikes could further inflame a region already battered by Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The war began with Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.

Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and driven nearly 2 million others from their homes, sparking anger across the Muslim world.

Violence has erupted across the Middle East, with Iran attacking targets in Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, and the United States carrying out airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels over their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Some observers fear that a new round of attacks targeting Iran could tip the region into a wider war.