Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched a missile at a U.S. warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, forcing it to shoot down the projectile

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile Friday at a U.S. warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden, forcing it to shoot down the projectile, the U.S. military said Friday.

The attack on the destroyer USS Carney marks a further escalation in the biggest confrontation at sea the U.S. Navy has seen in the Middle East in decades. It represents the first time the Houthis directly targeted a U.S. warship since the rebels began their attacks on shipping in October, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity because no authorization had been given to discuss the incident.

That contradicted a statement by the U.S. military’s Central Command, which said the Houthis fired “toward” the Carney. As it has in previous strikes, the Pentagon has said it was difficult to determine what exactly the Houthis were trying to hit.

Ever since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, the U.S. has tried to temper its descriptions of the strikes targeting its bases and warships to try to prevent the conflict from becoming a wider regional war.

    • DoctorNope@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      The US media is using this sort of language to manufacture consent for yet another war in the middle east. Is this group the de facto government of Yemen? No, they’re just “Houthi rebels”, so we’re doing Yemenis a favor by getting rid of them. Is it a reasonable military tactic to fire on the warship of a hostile foreign power that’s been bombing the shit out of you? No, it’s an “escalation”! How dare these rebels strike first, we didn’t do anything to them!

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The US media is using this sort of language to manufacture consent for yet another war in the middle east.

        Absolutely.