US forces struck three unmanned vessels and two cruise missiles inside Yemen and an attack drone over the Red Sea on Monday that posed an “imminent threat” to ships in the area, the military said.Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting shipping for months and their attacks have persisted despite repeated US and British strikes aimed at degrading their ability to threaten a vital global trade route.In Monday’s attack, US Central Command (CENTCOM) destroyed “three unmanned surface vessels, two mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, and a one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle,” it said on social media.”The (vessels) and (missile) weapons were prepared to launch towards… the Red Sea,” CENTCOM said, adding that the drone was already airborne.Those strikes, made between the hours of 4:45 pm and 11:45 pm Sanaa time (1345 GMT to 2045 GMT), were done “in self-defense”, it said.”CENTCOM forces… determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the US Navy ships in the region.”Over the weekend, US and British forces carried out strikes against 18 Houthi targets across eight locations in Yemen, including weapons storage facilities, attack drones, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter, according to a joint statement.
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