The US military says Yemeni Armed Forces have fired two ballistic missiles in the direction of USS Mason, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, in the Gulf of Aden.
In a statement, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the destroyer was targeted early Monday morning local time after it aided the tanker ship Central Park that had been seized in the Gulf of Aden.
“The missiles landed in the Gulf of Aden approximately ten nautical miles from the ships,” the statement added.
On Nov. 26, the USS MASON (DDG 87), with allied ships from our coalition counter-piracy task force (TF 151), and associated aircraft responded to a distress call from the M/V CENTRAL PARK, a commercial vessel, that they were under attack by an unknown entity. Upon arrival,… pic.twitter.com/ASmM3b0xrf
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 27, 2023
“There was no damage or reported injuries from either vessel during this incident,” it claimed.
The Central Park was carrying phosphoric acid and had an international crew of 22, The Associated Press reported. It sent a distress signal prompting the US aircraft USS Mason to respond.
The tanker ship sails under the Liberian flag and is managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime, which is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group.
Earlier this month, the Yemeni Armed Forces seized a vehicle transport ship also linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen.
They have threatened to attack Israeli ships in the waters off Yemen and launched drone and missile strikes targeting the occupied territories in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel waged a war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group conducted Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed nearly 15,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left vast swathes of the coastal enclave in ruins.
It has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
