In an apparent “friendly fire” incident over the Red Sea, two US Navy pilots were shot down, the US military said in a statement.
According to Associated Press, both the pilots were alive after they were recovered though one of them suffered minor injuries. The US military had conducted precision airstrikes against Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday.
“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,” the US Central Command said in a statement.
Elaborating on its airstrikes against Houthi rebels, the US Central Command said that it targeted a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by the rebel group in Sana’a, Yemen.
CENTCOM Conducts Airstrikes Against Iran-Backed Houthi Missile Storage and Command/Control Facilities in Yemen
TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by… pic.twitter.com/YRWWQJIweP
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 21, 2024
In a post on X, the US Central Command said “CENTCOM forces conducted deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.”
The airstrike on Houthi rebels involved US Air Force and US Navy assets, the military stated.
Since the Gaza based Hamas militant group’s surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, which killed over 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, the Houthi rebels have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones.
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