| US, French and British forces downed dozens of drones in the Red Sea area at the weekend after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis targeted bulk carrier Propel Fortune and US destroyers in the region, the US military said in a statement.The group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Saturday they had targeted the cargo vessel and “a number of US war destroyers at the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with 37 drones”.
The UAVs were intended to present “an imminent threat to merchant vessels, US Navy, and coalition ships in the region”, it said in a post on social media platform X.A French warship and fighter jets also shot down four combat drones that were advancing towards naval vessels belonging to the European Aspides mission in the region, a French army statement said.
“Last night, HMS Richmond used its Sea Ceptor missiles to shoot down two attack drones - successfully repelling yet another illegal attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis,” Defence Minister Grant Shapps said on X.