The Guardian:
Two missiles fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen landed near a US destroyer passing by in the Red Sea, the US navy said, the second such launch targeting ships in the crucial international waterway in recent days.
The launches on Sunday came as a ballistic missile fired from Yemen apparently targeted a Saudi air base near Mecca, the deepest strike yet into the kingdom by Yemen’s Shia Houthi rebels and their allies.
The rebels offered no reason for the launches, though they came after a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a funeral in Yemen’s capital killed more than 140 people and wounded 525 on Saturday.
In a statement on Monday, the navy said no American sailors were injured and no damage was done to the USS Mason. Lt Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for US naval forces central command, said it was unclear if the USS Mason was specifically targeted, though the missiles were fired in its direction for an hour, starting at about 7pm.
An American defence official said the ship used onboard defensive measures after the first missile was fired, but it was not clear if that caused the missile to splash harmlessly into the sea. The destroyer was north of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which serves as a gateway for oil tankers heading to Europe through the Suez canal, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the incident that have not been made public.
Last week, an Emirati-leased swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called it a warship.
Meanwhile, Saudi state television aired a brief clip of what appeared to be a projectile that was said to have landed in Taif, a city in the province of Mecca, in the ballistic missile attack. The video shows the flash of an explosion, followed by images of emergency vehicles. Taif is home to Saudi Arabia’s King Fahad air base, which hosts US military personnel training the kingdom’s armed forces.
The Saudi military said the missile fired late on Saturday night was intercepted and caused no damage. The US military’s central command, which oversees troops in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, identified the missile as a Volcano-1, a local variant of a Soviet-era Scud missile. It said it targeted the air base….
