US-led coalition shoots down 15 Houthi drones

MANILA, Philippines — United States and allied forces shot down 15 one-way attack drones fired by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the US military said on Saturday.

It was one of the Houthis’ largest attacks since they began in November a campaign of drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea area – vital for world trade – in professed solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said the “large-scale” Houthi attack occurred before dawn into the Red Sea and adjacent Gulf of Aden.

CENTCOM and coalition forces determined that the drones “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, US Navy and coalition ships in the region.”

It added, in a post on social media platform X, that “US Navy vessels and aircraft, along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft, shot down 15” of the drones.

“These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure.”

On March 6, a drone attack on a bulk carrier in the Red Sea killed two Filipino crewmembers and one Vietnamese. Two other Filipinos were injured in the attack.

The Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned True Confidence was on its way to Saudi Arabia from China carrying steel when attacked.

Fifteen of the ship’s 20 crewmembers were Filipinos.

On Jan. 9, US and British forces shot down 18 drones and three missiles fired by the rebels toward ships in the Red Sea, the US military said at the time. Britain said it was the largest attack to that point by the Houthis.

The US in December announced a maritime security initiative to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, which have forced commercial vessels to divert from the route that normally carries 12 percent of global trade.

Since January, the US and Britain have also launched repeated strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the ship attacks, but the rebels have continued to attack merchant vessels and have also targeted American and British ships.