U.S. fighters intercept Houthi-fired cruise missile near Hodeidah port

U.S. fighter aircraft shoot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward a U.S. destroyer operating in the southern Red Sea, the U.S. military says. Central Command posted a statement on X saying, “An anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon.” The missile was intercepted near the port city of Hodeidah, and “there were no injuries or damage reported,” the statement added.

The interception is the latest and most direct clash between U.S. forces and Houthi militants since a series of strikes by U.S. and allied assets on Houthi targets earlier this week. U.S. military statements say those operations sought to disrupt Houthi capabilities used to threaten commercial shipping and U.S. Navy vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. The U.S. describes strikes this week as having destroyed multiple weapons systems, including seven anti-ship cruise missiles, a mobile ballistic missile launcher and an unmanned aerial vehicle, and says some actions were taken in self-defence.

The events have unfolded amid a complex and fast-moving operational picture. U.S. commanders also acknowledged a separate mishap in the same theater in which the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly fired on and struck an American F/A-18 flying off the carrier USS Harry S. Truman. Central Command said, “The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18, which was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman.” Both crew members ejected safely, one suffering minor injuries.

Washington casts the exchanges as necessary to protect maritime traffic and deter an expanding campaign by the Houthis against commercial shipping. Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said the Houthis are “behaving like a terrorist organisation – attacking civilians, civilian shipping, and innocent mariners.” The White House has signalled the president “will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” underscoring a readiness to escalate if attacks persist.

Houthi leaders defend their campaign as solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and protested U.S. and allied strikes. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam described the presence of U.S. aircraft near Yemen as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty.” The group has previously seized vessels and detained crews; one such case involves the Galaxy Leader, whose 25 crew members from five countries remain in Houthi custody after a November seizure that U.S. officials have called “piracy.”

Beyond the immediate military exchanges, the standoff is disrupting global commerce and humanitarian flows. The Red Sea route handles roughly 15 percent of world shipping; shipping firms have rerouted some vessels around the southern tip of Africa, adding an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 nautical miles to voyages and slowing deliveries of food, medicine and other supplies to vulnerable regions.

Officials and independent monitors are still reconciling multiple contemporaneous incidents and assessing whether the missile interception is distinct from other strikes earlier in the week. For now, the clash off Hodeidah underscores the danger of a localised confrontation spilling into a broader regional crisis, with maritime trade and civilian aid flows caught in the balance.