A US Navy official told the site USNI Newsthat the above incident occurred at around 3:00 a.m. on December 22 (Yemen time) or around 7:00 p.m. on December 21 (US time).
The US Navy’s F/A-18F fighter jet was deployed to support maritime security in the Middle East region, flying over the Red Sea on June 11.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that both pilots controlling the F/A-18 were rescued but “initial assessment shows that one of the crew members suffered minor injuries”, according to AFP. .
“This incident was not the result of hostile fire and a full investigation is underway,” CENTCOM said.
The USS Gettysburg, whose homeport is in Norfolk, Virginia, entered the Red Sea with the aircraft carrier USS Harry S.Truman last week, according to USNI News.
The potentially disastrous mistake above shows the dangers of a mission the US has been engaged in for more than a year as Houthi forces in Yemen repeatedly target merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. which they believe is related to Israel, according to AFP.
The US Navy must change to fight ‘Iran’s best’ weapons in the Red Sea
On December 21, CENTCOM announced that US forces had attacked targets in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sana’a. US forces also shot down several Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile in the Red Sea, according to CENTCOM.
The US military launched the above attack a few hours after a missile launched by the Houthis injured 16 people in Israel’s Tel Aviv commercial center.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, saying they directed a ballistic missile at an Israeli military target. The Israeli army admitted it failed to intercept missiles launched by the Houthis, according to AFP.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched rockets into Israel to show solidarity with the Palestinians since the Hamas-Israel conflict broke out in Gaza more than a year ago. Most of the missiles launched by the Houthis were intercepted by Israel.
