U.S. threatens retaliation for missile attack off Yemen

The U.S. military is threatening to retaliate against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen who are suspected of targeting an American warship in the Red Sea on Sunday.

The cruise-missile attack originated from territory controlled by Shiite Houthis, a rebel group supported by Iran. It appeared to be targeting the amphibious transport dock Ponce or the destroyer Mason, ultimately triggering one of the Mason’s counter-missile systems, a U.S. defense official said.

“Anybody who takes action, fires against U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters, does so at their own peril,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Tuesday. "We’re going to find out who did this and we will take action accordingly."

Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the incident is being reviewed “up and down the chain of command."

Sunday's attack marks the first time in recent memory that a U.S. Navy vessel was forced to engage its on-board defense systems. The Pentagon has declined to specify which system the ship used. The Mason is equipped with a Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) air defense defense system, which uses outgoing missiles to force incoming missiles off course and into the water.

A report Tuesday from the U.S. Naval Institute said the destroyer fired two SM-2s missiles and a single Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) to intercept the incoming cruise missile. The ship used also used its Nulka anti-ship missile decoy, according to USNI.

The flotilla of U.S. ships was off the coast of Yemen, “conducting routine operations in international waters,” when the attack occurred, Davis said. It was not operating in support of any allied coalitions, he added.

U.S. forces are backing the Sunni Muslim countries embroiled in Yemen’s civil war. The cruise-missile attack comes at a time when many top U.S. officials are reconsidering the American military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, which has been criticized for striking civilian targets.

The cruise missile originated from a coastal port area controlled by Houthi rebels, which receive weapons and other military support from Iran.
U.S. Navy ship commanders have an inherent right to self-defense and do not require prior approval to fire a defensive missile from the ship’s counter-missile system. Yet retaliatory strikes require a more complex authorization process, even though a ship’s radar and surveillance systems might be able to immediately pinpoint the source of an incoming missile.

“That is a target we would develop, as we do with any other things that we strike,” Davis said. “Anytime we engage in strikes, we do so only after a thorough analysis of what it is we’re striking.”

Military intelligence specialists are tracking the individuals responsible, he added. Davis declined to say that the Houthis rebels were responsible for the attack, but said the missile originated in Houthis-held territory.

The attack involved a “cruise missile,” Davis said. It's a low-altitude, often highly accurate precision-guided weapon that can carry a warhead large enough to inflict catastrophic damage on a U.S. Navy ship. The precise type of cruise missile remains under investigation, Davis said.

One defense official said the missile may have been a "Silkworm," a Chinese-made weapon that has been part of the Iranian military's arsenal for decades.

It's unclear whether the incoming missile struck the water because of the destroyer's counter-fire measures, Davis said. A second missile was fired from a similar location in Yemen about one hour later, but it did not pose a threat to the U.S. ships and warrant defensive fire, Davis said.

The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the attack. The rebels could have obtained cruise missiles either from caches seized from the former Yemeni government during the civil war or from Iran.

“It’s not a secret that Iran has been actively supplying them and giving them the tools of war,” Davis said.

The U.S. military is providing logistical and intelligence support for a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. The U.S. also is backing a coalition led by the United Arab Emirates that is fighting al-Qaida militants in Yemen.