A sailor was seriously injured after a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden was hit by two cruise missiles fired by the Houthis in Yemen, the US military said.
The injured sailor was airlifted to another ship for treatment, US Central Command (CentCom) reported.
He added that crew members were battling a fire aboard the MV Verbena, a Palau-flagged, Ukraine-owned and Polish-operated vessel.
The nationality of the sailor has not been revealed.
This comes a day after the Iran-backed Houthis attacked a Greek ship in the Red Sea, causing severe flooding on board.
The Houthis said they carried out attacks on three ships in the past 24 hours, including the MV Verbena, “in retaliation for the crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip and in response to the US-British aggression against our country “. “.
CentCom later said it destroyed two Houthi patrol boats, an unmanned surface vessel and a drone over the Red Sea in the past 24 hours.
“These systems were determined to pose an imminent threat to U.S., coalition forces, and merchant shipping in the region,” CentCom said in a statement.
The Houthi armed group sees itself as part of an Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel, the United States and the West as a whole.
Since November, the rebel group has carried out attacks on ships it says are linked to Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying their actions are in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
In response, the US and UK have carried out a series of attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen, leading the Houthis to retaliate against ships they suspect of being linked to those countries.
“The Houthis claim to act on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza and yet they target and threaten the lives of third-country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza,” CentCom said.
Rebel attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea have prompted many shipping companies to stop using the waterway, through which about 12 percent of global maritime trade passes.
On Wednesday, the Houthis targeted a Liberian-flagged ship named Tutor using a maritime drone in the Red Sea. No casualties have been reported.
